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Shell’s traders and refineries powered the oil major to its biggest quarterly profit in two years after the Middle East conflict upended the market for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
The London-listed group reported adjusted profits of $6.92bn for the first three months of the year, up by almost a quarter from a year ago and ahead of the $6.36bn forecast by analysts.
Traders typically benefit from volatility because sharp price swings create larger spreads between buyers and sellers, more opportunities for arbitrage and demand for hedging from customers such as utilities and airlines.
Shell has stakes in seven refineries, with four in Europe, two in Canada and one in the US. Profits from its refineries, which turn crude oil into products including diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, jumped to more than $2bn in the period.
While its refineries and traders profited during the turbulence from the conflict, Shell also took a near $2.4bn hit on the value of its hedging contracts as oil and gas prices swung wildly. It also booked a $635mn charge from an undisclosed legal case in its gas business in the quarter.
Meanwhile the company’s net debt climbed by over $11bn year-on-year to $52.6bn, although the increase was less than expected by analysts.
But in a sign of the damage inflicted on energy facilities across the Gulf, Shell said its gas production dipped in the first quarter and would decline at least 30 per cent in the second.
The Middle East accounts for about 20 per cent of Shell’s oil and gas production, although half of that lies in Oman, which is outside the Strait of Hormuz.
Shell raised its dividend by 5 per cent, a move that analysts estimated would cost around $400mn to $500mn a year, but trimmed the amount of shares it plans to buy back over the next three months to $3bn from $3.5bn as it warned that tougher times lay ahead because of the Iran war.
Shares in the company were down 2.4 per cent in early trading. Matthew Lofting, an analyst at JP Morgan, noted that while Shell’s results had been “solid”, he expected geopolitics to “prove more significant” for the share prices of European oil companies in the weeks ahead, as the US, Israel and Iran search for a solution to the conflict.
Pearl, the company’s vast gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar, was struck by Iranian missiles in March and required significant repair work. It is also projecting lower oil production and lower volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Sinead Gorman, Shell’s chief financial officer, said the repairs to Pearl would cost about $500mn and take about a year.
She added that part of Pearl, as well as Shell’s interest in QatarEnergy’s LNG facilities, were “start-up ready, subject to our ability to move products through the Strait of Hormuz”.
Shell’s profits come a week after UK rival BP hailed an “exceptional” performance from its traders that saw it double its first-quarter adjusted profits year on year to $3.2bn.
Last month, Shell announced its largest takeover deal for a decade when it agreed to buy Canadian shale producer ARC Resources for $16.4bn.
