(News Bulletin 247) – Shell on Thursday reported a sharper-than-expected rise in its adjusted quarterly profit, as the Anglo-Dutch oil giant benefited from the strong performance of its integrated gas business.
Its adjusted earnings for the first quarter thus amounted to 9.6 billion dollars in the first quarter, against 9.1 billion a year earlier, while the consensus was for only eight billion.
Upstream operating income (exploration & production) fell to 2.8 billion over the quarter, compared to 3.5 billion a year ago, under the effect of the decline in oil prices.
On the other hand, that of the integrated gas division, which mainly includes businesses related to LNG, increased to 4.9 billion dollars, against 4.1 billion a year earlier.
While bp took the market by surprise on Tuesday by announcing declining share buybacks, Shell announced the start of a new share buyback program, for an amount of some four billion dollars.
The consensus was counting on a more limited envelope of around three billion dollars.
Note that these acquisitions should be completed by the company’s next quarterly publication, scheduled for the end of July.
Following these announcements, Shell shares rose 2.5% on Thursday morning on the London Stock Exchange.
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