Shell has on Thursday, reported $7.7billion quaterly profit, thus smashing expectations following disruptions in the Red Sea and Russia lifted oil refining and trading. The company’s dividend remains unchanged.
The firm also said it will repurchase a further $3.5 billion of its shares over the next three months, at a similar rate to the previous quarter.
CEO Wael Sawan , said: “Shell delivered another quarter of strong operational and financial performance, demonstrating our continued focus on delivering more value with less emissions.“
Analysts had expected, opens new tab first-quarter adjusted earnings of $6.46 billion, against $9.65 billion a year earlier. The company had posted $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 $2.8 billion.
According to findings by Reuters, trading of refined oil was enhanced 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.
Shell shares were up 1.5% at 0807 GMT, compared with a 1.24% decline in the broader European energy index.
“Shell has beaten expectations by a reasonable margin, despite the impact of lower gas prices during the first quarter. Earnings are up, costs have fallen, and the oil and gas major has brought debt down too – all in all, it’s a solid set of numbers,” said Stuart Lamont, investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin.
