Royal Dutch Shell shares rose after the company announced 10,000 job cuts and an 80% drop in profits.

The oil company’s share price rose by 4% as it announced profits of $1.8bn for the fourth quarter of 2015 – down from $4.2bn last year, the BBC reports.

Across all of 2015 earnings were down from $19bn to $3.8bn.

Shell has however maintained its dividend payout to shareholders.

Dropping oil prices have seen oil companies suffer heavy drops in profit in 2015, as the price per barrel has dropped from roughly $100 to $30 in the space of 18 months.

BP reported a 51% profit drop for 2015 earlier this week, with 3,000 job cuts.

Royal Dutch Shell's chief executive, Ben van Beurden, said the company was making “substantial changes” with the aim to “refocus Shell, and respond to lower oil prices.

“As we have previously indicated, this will include a reduction of some 10,000 staff and direct contractor positions in 2015-16 across both companies."

"Shell will take further impactful decisions to manage through the oil price downturn, should conditions warrant that,” van Beurden said.