Shell Had a Phenomenal Quarter, But Thanks to What?

Shell reached fantastic results in the first quarter of the year. The oil giant reported its highest quarterly profit since 2008 on soaring commodity prices. It posted adjusted earnings of $9.1 billion for the first three months through the end of March, in line with expectations of analysts polled by Refinitiv. For instance, in the first quarter of 2021 Shell reported adjusted earnings of $3.2 billion.

It also announced plans to increase its dividend by around 4% to $0.25 per share for the first quarter.

Of Shell’s $8.5 billion share buyback program announced for the first half of the year, the company said $4 billion had been completed to date. Moreover, the remaining $4.5 billion share buybacks are scheduled to be completed before the announcement of second-quarter earnings.

Shares of Shell rose 3% on Thursday morning.

Shell and other major companies

The company’s results echo bumper profits seen across the oil and gas industry. World-famous oil companies achieved great results, even as energy majors incur costly write-downs from exiting Russia.

Shell’s rival BP on Tuesday announced plans to boost share buybacks after its first-quarter net profits rose to its highest point in more than a decade. Apart from Shell and BP, France’s TotalEnergies and Norway’s Equinor also reported strong first-quarter profits on soaring commodity prices. Oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron also reached good results.

Oil giant Shell confirmed that it had taken $3.9 billion of post-tax charges in the first quarter as a result of its exit from Russia. It previously warned it could write off between $4 billion and $5 billion in the value of its assets. Shell said these charges were not expected to impact adjusted earnings.

The company reported a sharp upswing in full-year profit in 2021 on rebounding oil as well as gas prices.

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