Business

Shell’s fourth-quarter profits miss analysts’ estimates

Results inline with disappointing reports from US oil firms Chevron and Exxon

Royal Dutch Shell: analysts had expected profit of $2.8 billion, according to the average of 17 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Photograph: Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters

Thu Feb 2 2017 - 08:21

Royal Dutch Shell reported fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates after its three main business units all fell short of its forecasts.

Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes advanced 14 per cent from a year earlier to $1.8 billion (€1.67 billion), Shell said in a statement on Thursday.

Analysts had expected profit of $2.8 billion, according to the average of 17 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The upstream, downstream and integrated gas businesses all missed company guidance.

The results follow similarly disappointing reports from US oil firms Chevron and Exxon Mobil, whose earnings fell well short of estimates.

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While drillers have responded to the 2½-year oil market rout by firing workers, selling assets and scrapping risky projects, the quarterly figures suggest the industry still needs recovery time, even with crude prices doubling since January 2016.

Production

Shell’s oil and gas production totalled 3.91 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the quarter, up 28 per cent from a year earlier, according to the statement.

The company piled up borrowings following its $54 billion purchase of BG Group. While chief executive Ben van Beurden has made debt reduction a top priority, Shell missed its target for asset sales last year as low oil prices depressed valuations.

Mr van Beurde this week announced the sale of fields in the North Sea and Thailand for as much as $4.7 billion to accelerate the disposals drive.

The company’s B shares, the most widely traded, rose 53 per cent in London last year, the first annual gain in three. They’re down 5.6 per cent this year.

– (Bloomberg)

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