Shell Swings to 2Q CCS Loss on $16.8 Billion Impairment; Cuts Interim Dividend to 1Q Level

By Jaime Llinares Taboada

Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Thursday posted a swing to a significant loss on a current cost of supply basis for the second quarter on the back of impairments and lower prices, volumes and margins. It also cut the interim dividend in line with the first quarter payment.

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant booked a CCS loss of $18.38 billion for April-June, swinging from a $3.02 billion profit a year earlier. The net loss came in at $18.13 billion, also reflecting an impairment of $16.8 billion relative to lower oil and gas price forecasts.

Excluding identified items, the company delivered a CCS profit of $638 million, down 82% from $3.46 billion a year earlier. This came ahead of expectations, as the company-compiled market consensus had forecast a $674 million adjusted CCS loss.

Shell declared an interim dividend of 0.16 cents a share for the period. This was in line with 0.16 cents for the first quarter, and down from the 0.47 cents payment for the second quarter of 2019.

As for the third quarter of the year, Shell warned of potential production cuts: "Due to demand or regulatory requirements and/or constraints in infrastructure, Shell may need to take measures to curtail or reduce oil and/or gas production, LNG liquefaction as well as utilization of refining and chemicals plants and similarly sales volumes could be impacted."

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at [e-mail]; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2020 02:35 ET (06:35 GMT)

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