(Alliance News) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Thursday reported a fall in interim earnings despite slightly higher production.
Current cost of supply earnings attributable to shareholders excluding items was down 13% in the first half to USD8.76 billion. Cash flow from operating activities was up 4% to USD19.66 billion.
For the second quarter alone, CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding items was down 26% year-on-year to USD3.46 billion, which Shell said reflected lower realised oil, gas and liquefied natural gas prices, plus weaker realised chemicals and refining margins, as well as higher provisions, though this was all partly offset by improved production.
Total production available for sale in the half rose 1% to 3.67 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. In the second quarter alone, this was up 4% to 3.58 million.
Shell held its interim dividend at USD0.94. In addition, Shell announced the commencement of the next tranche of its share buyback programme, with the maximum consideration under this USD2.75 billion. The company intends to buyback at least USD25 billion in shares by the end of 2020.
Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden commented: "We have delivered good cash flow performance, despite earnings volatility, in a quarter that has seen challenging macroeconomic conditions in refining and chemicals as well as lower gas prices."
"The resilience of our Upstream and customer-facing businesses and their ability to generate cash support the delivery of our 2020 outlook, which remains unchanged," he added.
Looking ahead, Integrated Gas production in the third quarter is expected to be at the same level seen a year ago, with Upstream production to be higher by around 50,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day year-on-year due to field ramp-ups and the transfer of the Salym asset from the Integrated Gas segment.
