Shell posts $10 bn profit as trading offset lower energy prices

Shell France LNG

Shell has posted first-quarter net profit of $9.65 billion, as strong earnings from fuel trading and higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales offset cooling energy prices.

Lower natural gas prices in the quarter weighed on Shell’s integrated gas business, with profits slumping 18 percent to $4.9 billion. But this was broadly offset by a 139 percent jump in profits to $1.8 billion in its chemicals and refined products unit.

Shell, the world’s top LNG trader, said LNG production rose in the quarter thanks to higher uptime at its Prelude floating facility off the coast of Australia.

Shell said in its earnings report said it posted adjusted earnings of $9.65 billion in the first quarter.

That compared with earnings of $9.1 billion a year earlier and $9.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, when Shell reported a record annual profit of $40 billion.

Benchmark Brent crude oil prices averaged $81 per barrel in the first three months of the year, down 16 percent from a year earlier, while Europe’s benchmark TTF front-month wholesale gas contract has fallen 50 percent so far this year.

The British company maintained its 2023 capital spending plans unchanged in a range between $23 and $27 billion.

Shell Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan has introduced a new management structure since taking office in January, including placing its renewables and low-carbon operations under the downstream division.