APRIL 29, 2011
By ANDREW PEAPLE
Royal Dutch Shell‘s bump in the road has sure flattened out.
The oil company’s first-quarter earnings were up 53% on a disappointing last quarter of 2010, thanks to high oil prices and improved liquefied-natural-gas sales in Asia and Europe. Stronger cash flow may have some investors pressing for higher dividends. Shell should resist, for now.
Like BP, which reported on Wednesday, Shell has been shedding unwanted assets, leading to output shortfalls. Its production fell 3% year on year. But, also like BP, Shell’s results were boosted by higher downstream profits, which doubled year on year thanks to sharply wider refining margins.