Shell saw profit from its lubricants unit surge in the third quarter from year-earlier levels but fall from the second quarter of the year.The unit’s adjusted earnings of $226mn in the three months to end-September more than doubled from $94mn during the same period a year earlier.Profit was down from more than $290mn in the first and in the second quarters of the year.The lower profit partly reflected an unusually large taxation charge in the third quarter.The unit's adjusted earnings of $425mn before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was down 3pc from $436mn during the previous three months.The drop in EBITDA from the second quarter of the year mirrored a 3pc fall in sales during the same period.Shell’s lubricants sales volume of 82,000 b/d (7.54mn bl) in the third quarter edged down from 83,000 b/d (7.55mn bl) during the previous three months and from 85,000 b/d in the first quarter of the year.Rival lube blenders Castrol and Fuchs SE saw third-quarter profit rise from year-earlier levels and from the previous quarter..Castrol’s Q3 profit rises.German blender Fuchs’ Q3 profit rises
