Shell smashes forecasts with US$7.7 billion quarterly profit
The company also said it will repurchase a further US$3.5 billion of its shares over the next three months, at a similar rate to the previous quarter. Its dividend remained unchanged
Shell reported first-quarter profit of US$7.7 billion on Thursday, sharply beating expectations after disruptions in the Red Sea and Russia lifted oil refining and trading.
The company also said it will repurchase a further US$3.5 billion of its shares over the next three months, at a similar rate to the previous quarter. Its dividend remained unchanged.
Shell’s cashflow rose by 6% from the previous quarter to US$13.3 billion reflecting strong operational performance, particularly in its liquefied natural gas division, which together with trading helped to offset a decline in natural gas prices that weighed on earnings of rivals including Exxon Mobil and Chevron last week.
“Shell delivered another quarter of strong operational and financial performance, demonstrating our continued focus on delivering more value with less emissions,” CEO Wael Sawan said.
Analysts had expected, opens new tab first-quarter adjusted earnings of US$6.46 billion, against US$9.65 billion a year earlier. The company had posted US$7.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, boosted by strong LNG trading results.
Shell’s chemicals and products divisions, which include refining and oil trading, registered a more than threefold rise in adjusted earnings from the previous quarter to US$2.8 billion.
Refined oil product trading was boosted by disruptions to shipping in the Red Sea as well as outages at Russian refineries because of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months, finance chief Sinead Gorman told reporters.
Shell also timed refinery maintenance to the last quarter of 2023 while most of its peers do this in the first quarter of the year, giving Shell a further advantage in supplying oil products such as gasoline and diesel, Gorman said.
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