…van Beurden warned that the pain may not be over, saying it was possible that Shell would make new writedowns on its North American operations.
The US was among the factors that dented this year’s performance, as Shell continued to feel the effects of a shale gas glut that has sent prices tumbling.
Its North American arm is likely to be restructured, with some of its assets there to be put up for sale.
By Rob Davies
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Shell’s new boss has put controversial Arctic drilling plans on hold and vowed to slash spending after the oil giant was rocked by its first profit warning in a decade.Ben van Beurden said Europe’s largest company by revenue would be ‘changing emphasis’ after a tough year that saw pre-tax profits slump 23 per cent to £15.3billion.
‘None of us at Shell are comfortable with these results,’ he said, admitting that ‘we’ve lost momentum and can sharpen our performance in a number of areas’.
Van Beurden’s plan will see spending hacked back from the £28billion of last year to £22.5billion in 2014 – largely by making fewer acquisitions and launching a £9billion two-year asset sale programme.
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