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Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has moved to reassure investors that its reserves are still adequate.

The firm, which was hit by a crisis in 2004 when it overstated reserves by 20%, - said its net reserves were unchanged at 11.9 billion barrels of oil at the end of last year.

Shell has been hit by attacks on its Nigerian operations as well as the sale of part of its stake in Russia's vast Sakhalin-2 field, leading to concerns over reserve levels.

The company said today that its reserves replacement ratio - the measure of how well it replaces the oil it takes out of the ground - was 109% after the impact of acquisitions and sales, meaning the firm has found more oil and gas than it produced last year.

The group has also upped its estimates of the group's overall oil and gas resources to 66 billion barrels of oil - lasting 55 years - reflecting an improved exploration performance.

Chief executive Jeroen van der Veer added today that the oil major was 'rejuvenating its portfolio' for a world of higher and more volatile oil prices, which hit a new record of nearly $112 dollars a barrel today.

The company is planning to spend around £12.3 billion on capital expenditure this year. It has projects under construction capable of producing more than 10 billion barrels of oil. Shell said this would help the business achieve long-term growth of between 2% and 3% a year.