Oil giant beats first quarter estimates

LONDON – Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported slightly better-than-expected results for the first quarter, amid rising commodity prices and rising expectations of a recovery in fuel demand.

Shell also raised its dividend by around 4%, its second increase in six months, as the oil major seeks to reassure investors that it has gained a more stable footing. It comes after Shell cut its payments for the first time since World War II in April of last year.

The Anglo-Dutch company reported adjusted profit of $ 3.2 billion for the three months to the end of March. That compared to $ 2.9 billion in the same period a year earlier and $ 393 million for the fourth quarter of 2020.

Analysts expected adjusted first-quarter profit to be $ 3.1 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, said in a statement that the company had a “good start” for the year and was “ideally positioned to benefit from the recovery in demand”.

Net debt was reduced by $ 4 billion in the first three months of the year, falling to $ 71.3 billion.

Shell has confirmed that the massive winter storm that swept through Texas in February had an overall impact of around $ 200 million on adjusted first quarter earnings. He had warned that this would likely be the case in an update released on April 7.

Shell shares have risen more than 9% year-to-date, after falling nearly 40% in 2020.

In its outlook for the second quarter, Shell warned of persistent “significant uncertainty” in economic conditions, with an anticipated negative impact on the oil and gas industry. The energy giant said sales volumes could be adversely affected and that it may need to take action to reduce oil and / or gas production.

“Such measures will likely have a variety of impacts on our operational and financial measures,” Shell said.

The oil and gas industry was in free fall last year as the coronavirus pandemic coincided with a historic shock in fuel demand, falling commodity prices, unprecedented write-downs and losses. tens of thousands of job cuts.

Earlier this week, UK major oil company BP reported that first-quarter net profit had more than tripled, in large part due to “exceptional” gas trading and marketing performance and higher commodity prices. This paved the way for the energy company to announce its intention to start repurchasing shares.

Oil prices have climbed around 30% since the start of the year, with expectations of a pickup in demand appearing to have offset concerns about the impact of rising Covid-19 infections.

International benchmark Brent futures are trading at $ 67.66 a barrel Thursday morning, around 0.6% for the session, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were at $ 64.24, more than 0.5% higher.

OPEC and its non-OPEC allies, an influential producer group sometimes referred to as OPEC +, this week reaffirmed improving market sentiment by announcing its intention to stick with a gradual easing of supply restrictions. In the coming months.