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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Stock Type |
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| Oilexco | OIL | London | Ordinary Share |
| Price Change | Price Change % | Share Price | Last Trade
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| 0.00 | 0.00% | 6.90 | 01:00:00 |
| Open Price | Low Price | High Price | Close Price | Previous Close |
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| 6.90 | 6.90 |
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Posted at 02/10/2021 19:00 by bountyhunter Yes mainly investors now I agree.LSE seems to be a popular alternative although I don't like their format. Not sure where else the main competition is although there are quite a few sites with discussion boards. |
Posted at 02/10/2021 18:51 by mcbeanburger saudis - i thought the US was buying it oil now from the russinans now? last i heard anyway.advfn - no one posts here anymore, at least for trading as far as i can see. seems to just for investors. |
Posted at 08/3/2020 22:50 by adamb1978 Welcome guidance from regular oil investors on the easiest and cleanest way to get exposure to the oil price. If its tanking and someone wanted to take a contrarian approach, what would be the simplest way?I saw the USO oil fund mentioned somewhere, though someone else mentioning that it has a poor record of mimicking oil price movements. Any views? thanks in advance, Adam |
Posted at 03/11/2018 19:36 by grupo November 03 2018 10:10 PMBusiness RELATED STORIES Oil Oil Text Size: A A A Bloomberg/London Oil companies saw soaring profits during the third quarter as they emerge worst-in-a-generatio Here are five key themes from third quarter earnings season: 1. It’s all about the cash There may be no number more important to Big Oil bosses right now than cash flow. Royal Dutch Shell Plc in particular has made it a priority to turn itself into a well-oiled cash machine. It’s focused on getting the highest-margin barrels out of the ground, and churning money out of its liquefied natural gas trading business. In the third quarter, the Anglo-Dutch oil major brought in its biggest cash haul in a decade, excluding working capital movements. That obliterated analyst estimates for what the company could produce. “We like the direction of travel,” said Alasdair McKinnon, lead fund manager at Shell investor Scottish Investment Trust. 2. Show me the money The big question from shareholders: Are companies going to use all that money to pay us? The answer is yes. Most companies accelerated or continued share repurchase programmes, signalling confidence the dark days of the crude slump are gone. There were contrasts, though – Shell is going faster than anyone, while Exxon Mobil Corp has yet to discuss resuming buybacks. 3. Saving for a rainy day While oil companies may be enjoying surging cash – and handing some of it back to investors – almost no one has any interest in boosting capital spending, at least for now. Every major company except for Exxon pledged to keep capital expenditure at a near-decade low for the foreseeable future. They see this as important to winning back the confidence of shareholders. The value of the companies eroded from 2014, after they found themselves locked into expensive mega-projects during a major crude price collapse. 4. Debt dilemma The other big question from shareholders: what about debt? Having low debt means having more firepower and flexibility to do deals as well as ride out the next market downturn. Yet debt hasn’t really declined that much from a year ago, reflecting the fact that these companies have only recently started generating enough cash to cover shareholder distributions and their capital budgets again. 5. Crisis of confidence Even after all their hard work, investors are still uncertain of the industry’s commitment to financial discipline. Shares of oil companies in both Europe and the US have lagged the gains in the crude price throughout 2018. Shell’s monster cash numbers posted on Thursday didn’t prevent a sell-off. Investors were more enthusiastic about Exxon and Chevron - both rose in New York after reporting earnings. Even for Shell, most analysts think the discipline is real, and it will just take more quarters of consistently good delivery to see the stock price catch up. “While quarterly volatility may be off-putting for some, even when to the upside, we think Q3 provides good evidence that Shell’s financial framework can work,” said Biraj Borkhataria, at RBC Capital Markets, in a note. “In our view the shares are materially undervalued at these levels.” |
Posted at 02/8/2018 13:48 by la forge The Winners And Losers This Earnings SeasonBy Tsvetana Paraskova - Aug 01, 2018, 5:00 PM CDT Oil jack Higher oil prices this year boosted the earnings of all five Big Oil firms in the second quarter, but despite the increased profits, not all five oil supermajors—Ex The three European majors fared better than the two U.S. oil companies. Among Europe’s Big Oil, BP and Total beat profit forecasts, while Shell’s earnings fell short of analyst expectations. Shell, however, announced the launch of a much-anticipated share buyback program. The two U.S. supermajors disappointed with earnings below estimates, but Chevron—unlike Exxon—was spared the wrath of investors and the stock market after it also announced share repurchases. Last week, France’s Total reported a 44-percent increase in second-quarter net profit on the back of record-high quarterly oil and gas production. Total beat analyst estimates, and said that its upstream is well positioned to take advantage of the rising oil prices as it expects production to grow by more than 7 percent this year. Of the five Big Oil firms, Total’s shares rose the most on the day of its Q2 results announcement, a sign that investors and shareholders liked what they saw in the second-quarter performance and outlook for the rest of the year. BP also pleased investors when it reported on Tuesday quadrupled second-quarter earnings from a year ago and announced the first dividend increase since the oil prices started crashing in 2014. Related: Coke, Meth And Booze: The Flip Side Of The Permian Oil Boom Last week BP had its investors briefly worried that it would break its financial framework when it announced a US$10.5-billion acquisition of U.S. shale assets from BHP, BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley told Bloomberg television. But the company assured investors that it would stick to its US$15-17 billion capital budget frame, divest other assets to offset the cost for the BHP deal, and increase distribution to shareholders, Dudley said. BP continues to plan budgeting at oil prices in the $50-65 a barrel range, rather than these higher prices, Dudley said, reiterating Big Oil’s favorite adjective to describe capital spending these days: disciplined. Oilprice.com Join the world's largest energy community with over 10,000+ members Learn, Share, and Discuss on the OilPrice Community Sign Up Today The third European major of Big Oil’s five—ShellR “Our financial framework remains unchanged. Our free cash flow outlook and the progress we have made to strengthen our balance sheet give us the confidence to start our share buyback programme,” Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden said. Shell’s shares fell the most among Big Oil’s on the day of its earnings and share repurchase announcement, as the focus on debt reduction could mean a slower start to share buybacks. Apart from Shell, investors also punished Exxon on the day of its Q2 results release. Exxon disappointed, for yet another quarter, after missing again analyst expectations, and reporting its lowest production in a decade. Investors and analysts were disappointed not only by the earnings miss, but also by the lack of any share buyback announcement or hint for such. Related: PetroChina Sees Huge Boost In Profit The other U.S. supermajor, Chevron, also missed earnings estimates, but announced last Friday much-awaited share repurchases, and saw its shares rise despite the profit miss. Despite the rallying oil prices over the past year, shares in Big Oil companies have not risen as much as the price of oil, and have been lagging—and in some cases like Exxon significantly underperforming̵ Although profits are surging and buybacks are being announced or already carried out across the board, Big Oil still has work to do (and cash to distribute) to convince shareholders they are still a ‘world-class investment case’ as Shell’s van Beurden says about the company he leads. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: |
Posted at 02/6/2018 10:25 by grupo guitarlumber PROACTIVEINVESTORSSo you want to invest in oil and gas, there’s a stock for every risk appetite but which will suit you best? 10:02 02 Jun 2018 There are several ways to play the oil and gas sector, but, they all carry different levels of risk. oil and gas operations Here's the who's who of the sector. Crude oil and natural gas are fundamental and ubiquitous commodities throughout the capitalist system, so, putting any environmental proclivities aside, it should be obvious that the petroleum sector is a core part of all investment portfolios. But, who are the sector’s main players and which should you be investing in? First and foremost, you could also have a go at trading the commodities themselves. That’s not so easy, however, not unless you have substantial facilities and you’re comfortable getting your hands dirty, literally as well as figuratively. It is unlikely that very many private investors will have the gumption for physical crude trading. Most suit and tie oil traders will be prepared to deal in oil futures and an array of other derivative contracts. This is an often volatile market and it is essentially a 24-market. So this arena is not for those with feint hearts or shallow pockets. Many ways to navigate oil and gas equities Equity investing can offer a more accessible and diverse way to play the petroleum market. In London, particularly, there are many quite different opportunities to invest. From taking long term portfolio holdings of BP or Shell shares to leveraged CFD trading positions ‘seat of the pants’ exploration stocks on AIM, and, everything else in between, there are avenues for most tastes and risk appetites. Investing in ‘Big Oil’ integrated majors London is home to a pair of the sector’s more prestigious oil majors, BP Plc (LON:BP) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LON:RDSB). Both are stalwarts of any blue-chip portfolio. These are the sector juggernauts. Investing here, is all about income and that’s why both have fought tooth and nail to maintain dividends in recent years against the backdrop of sharply lower oil prices. Scrip-payments, asset sales and cost cutbacks were all deployed to save shareholder’s yield. Whilst the sector has experienced a sharp downturn in investment since the crude downturn since 2014, the tide now appears to be turning as the oil price is rallying. After the period of rebalancing, the improving oil price is having a big impact on cash flow generation. Indeed, some analysts see the price of oil returning to US$100 per barrel over the next two years - and, that is expected to see dividend cover improve to around 200%. It bodes well for the Big Oil stocks and their ‘slow-and-stea Exploration and wildcat wells We’re now talking about the complete opposite of BP or Shell. London is arguably the premier market for pre-revenue oil and gas stocks. This is where you’ll find petroleum executive with a bright ideas and a need for capital, London’s investment community is rather robust and knowledgeable when it comes to oil and gas prospecting - and that’s one of the reasons the world’s explorer’s list here. The shareholder registers of market’s preferred players most likely comprising a good mix of prestige institutional investors, deep-pocketed hedge funds, private equity, and frequently a depth of highly engaged private investors. The latter group, are often the most susceptible to the ambitious and seemingly compelling forward looking statements that flow out of small cap boardrooms. Here, companies are an awful lot smaller - in terms of capital, headcount and operational capacity. Ambition and salesmanship are, however, are definitely not in short supply. Put most simply, this is the business of finding new hydrocarbon resources, and, its most often done by small companies that are set-up to risk their very existence in the pursuit of new discoveries. In rudimentary terms, the idea is to make an educated guess where the oil or gas may exist and then drill a hole to prove it. Naturally, that’s much easier said than done. Successful explorers reward their investors handsomely. This is a binary business. And, it is not particularly uncommon for a small cap oil speculator to double or even triple their initial capital investments. At the same time, a well failure can decimate a trading position and, moreover, a bad enough well result can take down a company in its entirety. Although there’s a great deal of hard science and engineering involved for the companies, the outcomes for outside speculators are analogous to those seen in roulette. At any given time, the average small cap explorer may have just enough capital to deliver the programme they’re working on at that moment. They don’t yet generate their own cash and future fund raising is almost always a strong probability. In case you were in any doubt before, it is fair to now conclude that small cap exploration isn’t the investment arena for the widows and orphans fund. E&P independents E&P ought to stand for expertise and pragmatism (but, it actually means Exploration and Production). Companies like Tullow Oil plc (LON:TLW) and Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) are good examples of the companies found in the middle-ground between the multinational, vertically integrated majors and the AIM-market exploration minnows. Here, there are many well established and well supported oil and gas companies. They have production, some have quite substantial volumes of it too, but, unlike the Shell’s and BP’s of the world they are still not income investment plays. These businesses are far from ex-growth. Typically, they are independent i.e. they are not integrated (in other words they sell crude oil, unlike the majors they have no involvement in any of the ‘downstream Such companies are valued based on the cash flow they generate and the (risk discounted) barrels that are proven in the ground. Whilst exploration potential very much remains a relevant and attractive factor for investors, it is not what underpins the share price. Exploration risk is often shared through multi-partnered ventures, and, the negative impact of bad results dissipates more easily because the portfolios already hold material proven assets. Equity-based funding is rare in this segment, largely because upwards pointing production growth allows for debt funding. So far so good, right? The downside risk comes from the fact that the more aggressive players became highly leveraged earlier in the decade when the price of crude peaked well US$100 per barrel. Most of those firms have since rearranged their financing, nonetheless, there has been something of a lag on growth because cash is being prioritised towards debt repayment - albeit, the crude rally to US$80 in the first half of 2018 eases pressure. With leverage now less of a concern, the mid-sized independents may offer investors the best of both worlds. |
Posted at 22/5/2018 08:20 by waldron CHEERS BOUNTYNICKED THIS FROM THE RDSB THREAD WHICH MIGHT BE OF INTEREST COURTESY OF Fjgooner 22 May '18 - 00:07 - 2947 of 2950 0 1 0 This is really is very key - please read and view the video. I was watching this going out live on Bloomberg TV a few hours ago with an enormous smile on my face and thought it well worth sharing before I head to bed tonight. It is great news for companies such as Shell for both now and the years ahead. Enjoy. FJ -------------------- Economics Forget About Oil at $80. The Big Rally Is in Forward Prices By Catherine Ngai, Alex Longley and Javier Blas 21 May 2018 12:50 Updated on 21 May 2018 13:46 Brent five-year forward prices outpace gains in spot prices Investors question the ‘lower for longer’ oil price mantra Brent crude oil grabbed all the attention after spot prices hit $80 a barrel last week. And yet, almost unnoticed, a perhaps more important rally has occurred in the obscure world of forward prices, with some investors betting the "lower for longer" price mantra is all but over. The five-year Brent forward price, which has been largely anchored in a tight $55-to-$60 a barrel range for the past year and a half, has jumped over the last month, outpacing the gains in spot prices. It closed at $63.50 on Friday. "For the first time since December 2015, the back end of the curve has been leading the complex higher," said Yasser Elguindi, a market strategist at Energy Aspects Ltd. in New York. "It seems that the investor community is finally calling into question the ‘lower for longer’ thesis." Bob Dudley, the chief executive of oil giant BP Plc, coined the "lower for longer" mantra in early 2015, warning of a protracted period of cheap crude. He later clarified that he meant "lower for longer, but not forever." More to Run While spot prices fluctuate wildly, often driven by geopolitics such as U.S. sanctions on Iran, the five-year forward usually trades in a narrower range, anchored by longer views about future supply and demand. Over the past three years, long-dated prices had been weighed down by the belief the growth in U.S. shale production, combined with the adoption of electric vehicles, would keep prices under control. Investors are now questioning that hypothesis, pushing up forward prices. Over the past month, Brent five-year forward futures gained 11 percent, compared with a 6.8 percent increase in futures for immediate delivery. "We think there is more to go for the longer date contracts,” SEB chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said. “This will send very positive price signals into the whole oil space with higher confidence, optimism and evaluations as a likely consequence." Demand Surprise There are several reasons for the sudden surge in forward prices. Oil consumption is expanding much faster than anticipated, adding growth in two years that would normally take three. At the same, oil investment has dropped significantly over the past three years, particularly in projects that take longer to develop such as ultra-deep water offshore, raising doubts about future supply growth despite the gains in Texas, North Dakota and other U.S. shale regions. Moreover, a change in marine fuel oil specifications by 2020, which should increase significantly the demand for diesel-like refined products, is further reinforcing the belief among some investors that the oil market will be tighter than expected in the future. Morgan Stanley Says a Shipping Revolution Has Oil Headed for $90 The buying has sparked a rally in later-dated contracts in the past week-and-a-half that traders say is even more impressive than Brent’s march past $80. The grade for delivery in December 2022 has surged 10 percent since to beginning of the month to nearly $64 a barrel. The December 2023 has risen above $63 a barrel. The higher forward prices are also catching the attention of some equity investors as they usually use longer-dated prices to value energy companies. Despite the rally in forward prices, oil exploration and production companies, which typically hedge their production further out in the curve, have remained reticent to buy in, according to John Saucer, vice president of research and analysis at Mobius Risk Group in Houston. Oil producer selling typically puts pressure on the back of the curve. Investors aren’t just buying outright long-dated futures, but also betting through the options market on much higher prices in the early part of next decade by buying call options. The contracts, which give investors the right to buy at a predetermined price, are popular among commodities hedge funds. Call options that would profit from Brent rising to $130 a barrel by the end of 2020 traded 2,000 times on Friday. That follows a similar amount of $100 contracts for the same period trading over the past two weeks. “The war premium at the front of the market masked the fact that future significant demand increases and questions over supply levels equate to higher prices down the line,” said Richard Fullarton, founder of commodity focused hedge fund, Matilda Capital Management Ltd. — With assistance by Jessica Summers, and Sheela Tobben waldron 22 May '18 - 06:16 - 2948 of 2950 Edit 0 0 0 NICE ONE FJ, CHEERS THIS CAUGHT MY ATTENTION YESTERDAY TOO ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY BEGINS,STILL NO STORMS ENJOY |
Posted at 20/5/2018 15:31 by sarkasm Royal Dutch ShellShell faces shareholder challenge over climate change approach Investors back resolution calling on oil giant to set tougher carbon targets in line with Paris climate deal Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan_uk Sun 20 May 2018 14.43 BST Last modified on Sun 20 May 2018 14.51 BST Shares 6 Shell’s Brent Delta Topside offshore oil drilling rig The Dutch campaign group Follow This founder Mark van Baal presented a choice between Shell’s ‘whatever world’ or a world where firms aim to limit climate change below 2C. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AFP/Getty Images Royal Dutch Shell faces a shareholder challenge over climate change this week, as investors insist oil and gas firms should offer more transparency and action on carbon emissions. A growing number of pension funds have backed a resolution at Shell’s AGM on Tuesday, which calls on the company to set tougher carbon targets that are in line with the goals of the Paris climate deal. The proposal is supported by the Church of England, Dutch pension fund Aegon and, most recently, Nest, the workplace pension scheme set up by the UK government, which has £7m invested in Shell. Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, the Dutch campaign group that brought the resolution, said: “Investors have a choice: vote for Shell’s ‘whatever world’ or vote for the world of the Church of England, a world in which all companies set targets to limit climate change to well below 2C.” The resolution has also been highlighted by 60 large investors managing more $10.4tn (£7.72tn) in assets, though they stopped short of publicly backing it. “Regardless of the result at the Shell AGM, we strongly encourage all companies in this sector to clarify how they see their future in a low-carbon world,” the investors, who include Axa Investment Managers and Legal & General Investment Management, wrote in an open letter. It is the third year in a row that Follow This has brought a climate resolution to Shell’s AGM. Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, has admitted the resolutions played a role in convincing the firm to announce a plan of halving the carbon footprint of the energy it sells by 2050. Follow This has welcomed the move but said it is not enough. Influential shareholder advisers have also urged investors to oppose the CEO’s remuneration package, which rose to €8.9m (£7.79m) in 2017. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said van Beurden’s €3m (£2.63m) bonus was not warranted, given how the firm performed on its sustainable development targets. Advisory group Pensions and Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) also recommended opposition. Sign up to the Green Light email to get the planet's most important stories Read more A Shell spokesperson said the company “strongly disagreed” with ISS’s concerns, noting the advisory group had supported the policy that had put the bonus framework in place. They added: “We share the objective of Follow This for Shell to show leadership in the energy transition but we consider their resolution unnecessary as we have already outlined an approach, through our industry-leading net carbon footprint ambition, that is wider-ranging and more progressive.” Rival oil giant BP also faces a potential challenge – over pay – during its AGM in Manchester on Monday, the first time the London-based firm has held the event outside the capital in more than a century. The British oil firm said about 40% of its shareholders live north of Birmingham and Manchester’s location and transport links would be convenient for retail investors. The company’s healthy profits off higher oil prices mean the extraordinary 2016 shareholder revolt over chief executive Bob Dudley’s £14m pay package is unlikely to be repeated. But some proxy advisor groups have urged investors to reject Dudley’s £9.5m remuneration for 2017, which Pirc said was at an “unacceptable& |
Posted at 04/5/2018 23:24 by ariane 2018 01:09 AMBusiness Eco./Bus. News RELATED STORIES BIG The Royal Dutch Shell headquarters in The Hague. The world’s biggest companies from Royal Dutch Shell to Chevron Corp are starting to churn out profit like it is $100-a-barrel oil again. Rate Text Size: A A A Bloomberg/London Big Oil’s investors took a bruising for nearly three years as oil prices bumped along decade lows. Now they want payback. They’re willing to punish companies that don’t meet their standards, and their standards are awfully high. On their wish list: immediate returns, spending discipline, and, at the same time, more production. Here are three big takeaways from a mixed earnings season, where demands on Big Oil were laid bare. Profit isn’t enough: The world’s biggest companies from Royal Dutch Shell to Chevron Corp are starting to churn out profit like it is $100-a-barrel oil again. They have trimmed a lot of fat built up during the heady days of oil as they raced each other to construct hyper-engineered mega-projects. But, that’s no longer enough for investors. The goalposts have moved and now they mostly care about cash. Shell’s first-quarter earnings soared 42% from a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates. Still, cash flow from operations was lighter than expectations and the shares were hammered. Only half of the companies reporting dazzling earnings saw their stock rise. The problem? Investors are looking for immediate gratification after enduring the oil-price downturn. They also do not fully believe the companies can continue to keep a leash on their purse strings now that crude is rebounding. “The investment community still is not sure we’re going to handle these higher prices with discipline,” BP Plc chief executive officer Bob Dudley said at a conference last week. A longer track-record of prudent action is more important. Caution not rewarded: Dudley and his counterpart at Shell, Ben van Beurden, are among oil-company bosses who have pledged to maintain their hard-earned cost discipline. So, investors should be happy, right? Not necessarily. Shareholders think Shell’s cash-flow issues are likely to affect something close to their hearts: buybacks. Chief financial officer Jessica Uhl was swamped with questions about the timing of the $25bn share repurchase programme by both analysts and reporters. All they got was that she wanted to focus on reducing borrowings. Earlier, debt was investors’ primary concern after Shell’s $50bn acquisition of BG Group Plc in 2016. Demanding more oil: If delayed buybacks make investors mad, then missing earnings estimates make them furious. Ask Exxon Mobil Corp. The world’s biggest publicly traded oil company reported that while profit increased, it fell short of forecasts. It even missed the mark on production, the first sub-4mn barrels a day figure for that time of year since Bill Clinton was president. It couldn’t even keep pace on chemicals. The result is partly the consequence of one bad bet. The company invested heavily in exploring Russia, only to shelve all of its plans when the country was hit by US sanctions after the annexation of Crimea. Exxon responded to investor concerns by saying earlier this year it will boost spending to unlock more barrels of oil. However, that’s not passing muster either. Its shares have dropped in all three trading days after the first-quarter earnings. The company has lost about $53bn in market value since it posted disappointing fourth-quarter results three months ago. That’s more than the market capitalisation of the Ford Motor Co. “The quarter did not quite live up to high expectations following strong” oil prices, said Rob West, a London-based analyst at Redburn (Europe). |
Posted at 26/4/2018 12:29 by maywillow High Oil Prices Boost Industry Earnings, but Investors Remain Wary -- Update26/04/2018 12:14pm Dow Jones News Shell A (LSE:RDSA) Intraday Stock Chart Today : Thursday 26 April 2018 Click Here for more Shell A Charts. By Sarah Kent LONDON -- Rising crude prices are supercharging earnings at the world's major oil firms, but investors may need more convincing that Big Oil is back. Sharply climbing oil prices -- and years of cost cutting when they were low -- are rewarding some of the world's largest oil producers with profits not seen since crude was trading around $100 a barrel. Despite that, investors remain wary. As the industry emerges from a long and painful few years of low prices, shareholders are pressing executives to keep spending in check and funnel free cash to shareholders. Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported Thursday its highest quarterly profit since 2013, when prices were peaking just ahead of a steep downdraft to about $25 a barrel. Today, international crude is back comfortably above $70 a barrel, and oil companies have enjoyed three months of strong pricing for their crude. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant said its first-quarter profit on a current cost-of-supplies basis -- a number similar to the net income that U.S. oil companies report -- rose 69% from a year earlier to $5.7 billion. The company delivered more than $5 billion in free cash flow -- a newly important metric for investors who grew concerned about big oil companies' ability to finance their generous dividends during recent years of lower oil prices. Underscoring the still-skittish sentiment, though, Shell shares were down 2.5% in London morning trading after operating cash flow came in below analysts' expectations. Shell is the biggest oil company yet to report results for the quarter -- a period when the industry will be under a microscope. After years of retrenchment, investors are expecting companies to deliver them billions of dollars in cash, buoyed by rising oil prices and stringent cost cuts. Pressure remains on firms to keep spending constrained. Executives have signaled that despite the heady oil prices, they will keep costs in check and spin out cash to investors, instead of betting the gains on new expensive but risky oil-field investments. "They just need to stick to their knitting," said Rohan Murphy, energy analyst at Allianz Global Investors, a Shell investor. He said the company's leadership needs to "show that they're not going to start spending willy-nilly again." France's Total SA also reported first-quarter earnings Thursday, beating expectations for profit after stripping out one-off items. The company's production rose to record levels. But net profit slipped 7% compared with a year earlier, suffering from a tough comparison a year earlier, when it booked a big gain from an asset sale. Higher oil prices also acted as a double-edged sword for Total, adding to costs and crimping margins at its refining operations. Shares in Norway's Statoil ASA fell nearly 3% Wednesday after its profit numbers missed expectations. High crude prices boosted earnings and cash flow at the company, too, but results suffered from higher depreciation expenses in Norway and weaker earnings from the company's trading and refining unit. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are set to disclose their first-quarter results Friday. BP PLC reports next week. All three are expected to generate higher profits and lots of cash. Total on Thursday raised its first-quarter interim dividend 3.2%, in line with plans announced in February. It has targeted increasing shareholder payouts 10% over the next three years. Shell said it is on track to buy back at least $25 billion worth of shares by 2020, but gave no indication when the previously flagged program would begin. Some investors were hoping for more clarity on those plans. Statoil has also held up the prospect of a buyback, but didn't provide new details about timing this week. "We still see emerging scope for buybacks but it would depend on the macro environment," Statoil Chief Executive Eldar Saetre said in an interview. "We see a lot of volatility." Write to Sarah Kent at sarah.kent@wsj.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 26, 2018 06:59 ET (10:59 GMT) |
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