Shell releases 1Q20 results

The company also suspended the next tranche of its share buyback programme and said it was reducing oil and gas output by nearly a quarter after its net profit almost halved in the first three months of 2020.

Its 1Q20 net income attributable to shareholders based on a current cost of supplies and excluding identified items, fell 46% from a year earlier to US$2.9 billion, above the consensus in an analyst survey provided by Shell.

Shell’s 4Q19 net income was also US$2.9 billion.

The company said it cut activity at its refining business by up to 40% in response to the demand shock.

Shell said it expected to cut production of oil and gas in 2Q20 to between 1.75 million and 2.25 million boe/d from 2.7 million boe/d in 1Q20.

Shell’s gearing, or its debt-to-capital ratio, inched down to 28.9% in the first quarter from 29.3% in the fourth quarter, but was up from 26.5% in the same period a year earlier.

Shell is the first of the oil majors to cut its dividend because of the fallout from the coronavirus crisis. BP and ExxonMobil have said they will maintain their first quarter dividends while Total and Chevron have yet to report 1Q20 results.

Shell said it would reduce its quarterly dividend to 16 cents per share from 47 cents for 4Q19.

Shell said last month it would reduce CAPEX this year to US$20 billion at most from a planned level of about US$25 billion and also cut an additional US$3 billion to US$4 billion off operating costs over the next 12 months.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/30042020/shell-releases-1q20-results/