(Corrects to read boost (not hit) in headline)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell on
Thursday said that soaring natural gas and electricity prices
around the world will provide a significant boost to its
cashflow in the third quarter.
In an update ahead of quarterly results this month, Shell
also said that damage caused by August's Hurricane Ida will dent
earnings by $400 million in the quarter.
Natural gas and electricity prices around the world have
been driven higher as tight gas supplies have collided with
strong demand in economies recovering from the COVID-19
pandemic. <LNG-AS>
Shell is the world's top seller of liquefied natural gas
(LNG), accounting for about 20% of global demand, though its
sales have declined in recent months because of production
problems.
Liquefaction in the quarter is expected to be between 7 to
7.5 million tonnes, the lowest level since 2016, "reflecting
feedgas constraints and additional maintenance", Shell said.
The company said that cashflow at its LNG division "is
expected to be significantly impacted by large variation margin
inflows on the back of the prevailing gas and electricity price
environment".
Shell's upstream oil and gas production fell in the quarter
to between 2.025 and 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per
day (boed) owing to a prolonged outage of about 90,000 boed at
some of its offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico after
Hurricane Ida.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso
Editing by Jason Neely and David Goodman)
