Royal Dutch Shell Plc on Thursday posted a fourth quarter net loss of $2.81 billion or 44 cents a share in the fourth quarter.

This was the first quarterly loss in ten years driven mainly by a record decline in oil prices, according to Bloomberg .

Shell recorded a profit of $8.47 billion or $1.36 a share in the same period the previous year. Its revenue dropped 24 percent to $81.07 billion, the company said in a statement Thursday.

Shell announced it will raise its dividend for the first quarter by 5 percent to 42 cents.

American Depositary Shares of Shell closed up 25 cents, or 0.49 percent to $51.11 in New York trading on Thursday.