Laura Hurst, Bloomberg News

LONDON
EnergiesNet.com 05 09

Shell Plc posted its highest quarterly earnings in more than a decade, as the company was buoyed by high oil and gas prices despite taking a $3.9 billion accounting charge on its planned exit from Russia.

The last of the supermajors to report first-quarter results, Shell followed the overall pattern set by its peers. The London-based company surpassed even the highest analyst estimate as extreme volatility in the energy markets helped its trading division to boost earnings. 

The results “give us the confidence to plan future shareholder distributions and disciplined investments that will accelerate our strategy,” Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said in a statement on Thursday. Distributions to investors in the second half could amount to 30% of cash flow from operations, the company said. 

Shell’s first-quarter adjusted net income was $9.13 billion, up from $3.23 billion a year earlier. That figure excludes the large writedown stemming from the company’s planned exit from assets in Russia, including the liquefied natural gas project Sakhalin-2. 

The majors — with the exception of Chevron Corp. — have written off a combined $37 billion as they sever ties with the Kremlin after its invasion of Ukraine. BP took the biggest hit on Tuesday, announcing that the dumping of its  near 20% stake in Kremlin-backed Rosneft PJSC plus other assets in the country would cost it $25.5 billion.

Bloomberg.com 05 05 2022