Javier Blas: Bloomberg: January 27, 2020

(Bloomberg) — The world’s largest energy traders enjoyed one of their best ever years in 2019 as pipeline outages, dramatic changes in ship fuel regulations and Middle East conflicts shook up the global oil market.

The bonanza extended beyond the independent traders like Vitol Group and Trafigura Group Ltd. to the in-house units of oil giants Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc, which made billions of dollars in profits.

“By all accounts, 2019 was among the best years ever for the energy trading industry,” said Marco Dunand, the chief executive of Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., one of the five largest independent oil traders. read more

Jill Treanor: JANUARY 26, 2020

Thanks to Greta Thunberg — who last week took her campaign to business leaders gathered in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum — the climate-change debate should have reached every boardroom.

The implications are greatest in the oil and gas sector, which is wrangling with the imminent shift to low-carbon businesses.

“There are some investors who would be concerned that the capital being deployed in low-carbon businesses will not earn returns that would be as good as in the base businesses of these companies,” says Jason Gammel at Jefferies. read more

At first glance, the Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB) share price looks like a desirable investment. The stock is trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 13.3. It also offers a dividend yield of 6.3%.

However, the oil and gas major is facing one major challenge in the years ahead that could hurt its growth. It could also render billions of pounds of investment defunct. This is the threat of climate change.

Global warming

Investors all around the world are starting to wake up to the threat of climate change and the impact it could have on industries. For most companies, re-focusing their businesses to be more green is relatively easy. Unfortunately, for Shell, it isn’t. read more

By Nick Cunningham – Jan 19, 2020, 6:00 PM CST

Since 2010, the five largest oil majors have spent vastly more than they have generated when including shareholder payouts. ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Total, and Royal Dutch Shell have dished out a combined $536 billion in dividends and share buybacks since 2010, a figure that far exceeds the $329 billion in free cash flow over the same period, according to a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

That comes out to a gap of $207 billion, or about 39 percent of the total that was given to shareholders. The shortfall had to be made up somehow. According to IEEFA, the oil majors bridged the gap by selling off assets and taking on debt. read more

By CNN: Published January 19, 2020 11:46 pm

By Hanna Ziady, CNN Business

The oil and gas industry needs to work harder and faster to tackle the climate crisis if it wants to remain profitable, a leading energy group says.

The oil and gas industry needs to work harder and faster to tackle the climate crisis if it wants to remain profitable, a leading energy group says.

Oil and gas companies should do much more to respond to the threat of climate change, and cannot rely on fossil fuels to keep driving returns, the International Energy Agency said in a report Monday.

Since 2015, the industry has directed less than 1% of its annual capital expenditure towards low-carbon businesses, according to the report.

Some companies have spent up to 5% but “there are few signs of the large-scale change in capital allocation needed to put the world on a more sustainable path,” it said. read more

Andrew Sparrow Political correspondent: Mon 30 Dec 2019 07.31 GMT

The outgoing governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has said all companies and financial institutions must justify their continued investment in fossil fuels, and warned that assets in the sector could end up “worthless”.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme being broadcast on Monday, Carney said that although the financial sector was starting to cut back on investment in oil and gas companies, the process was not moving quickly enough. read more

As social pressures on companies build, Shell has voluntarily published the taxes it pays in each country

By Rochelle Toplensky: Dec. 20, 2019 5:28 am ET

This week, Royal Dutch Shell voluntarily published its revenue, profit, taxes and other business details in each of 98 countries. The disclosure aligns with a drive by the energy company, which often attracts criticism from environmental activists, to present itself as forward-thinking, transparent and socially-minded.

That didn’t stop the information feeding a predictable host of headlines in the U.K., where the company is partly based, that it didn’t pay taxes in the country (because of losses carried forward and tax refunds). In the U.S., Shell accrued $137 million of tax—a rate of 8%. read more

Ron Bousso, Pushkala Aripaka: DECEMBER 20, 2019 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said on Friday it expected to write down up to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, the latest major energy company forced to shrink estimates for sector values due to a weaker economic outlook.

In a trading update ahead of full year results, Shell also lowered its oil products sales forecast, pointing to the first annual slowdown in sales since at least 2014, while maintaining spending on the lower end of forecasts.

The Anglo-Dutch company warned in October that trade tensions between the United States and China, the world’s two largest energy consumers, could hurt demand and take a toll on its performance.

Shell said it expected to take post-tax impairment charges in a range between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion for the quarter “based on the macro outlook”. It did not say which assets the impairments relate to. read more

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> said on Friday it expects impairment charges of up to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter and trimmed its forecast for quarterly oil production sales, as the Anglo-Dutch oil company faces slowing demand for oil and gas.

The company warned in October that trade tensions between the United States and China, the world’s two largest energy consumers, could hurt demand and take a toll on its performance.

Shell said it expects oil production sales of 6.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) to 7 million boepd for the fourth quarter, compared with its earlier estimate of 6.65 million boepd to 7.05 million boepd. read more

Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Dale Hudson and Mark Potter: 1 Nov 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) faced a torrent of criticism from analysts on Friday for warning of possible delays to its $25 billion share buyback program, with some saying the move had undermined the credibility of the oil giant’s management.

Shell, the world’s second-largest listed oil and gas company, saw its shares close more than 4% lower on Thursday, wiping out $10 billion of its market value. It had earlier reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter profits which were, however, overshadowed by Chief Executive Ben van Beurden’s warning about shareholder returns. read more

WEBWIRE – Thursday, October 31, 2019

Royal Dutch Shell plc (the ‘company’) today announces the commencement of trading in the next tranche of its share buyback programme previously announced on July 26, 2018. In the next tranche, the company has entered into an irrevocable, non-discretionary arrangement with a broker to enable the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares for a period up to and including January 27, 2020. The aggregate maximum consideration for the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares under the next tranche is $2.75 billion. The company’s intention remains to buy back at least $25 billion of its shares subject to further progress with debt reduction and oil price conditions. However, the prevailing weak macroeconomic conditions and challenging outlook inevitably creates uncertainty about the completion of the share buyback programme by the end of 2020.

On October 17, 2019 the company completed the previous tranche of its share buyback programme. In aggregate between July 26, 2018 and October 17, 2019, the company repurchased 390,525,007 ordinary shares for an aggregate consideration of $12 billion (the ‘aggregate previous tranches’).

The maximum number of ordinary shares which may be purchased by the company under the next tranche of its share buyback programme (the ‘next tranche’) is 718,336,613, which is the maximum pursuant to the authority granted by shareholders at the company’s 2019 Annual General Meeting1 minus the number of ordinary shares purchased in the previous tranche. The shares bought back under the next tranche will be the A ordinary shares traded in the EUR denomination and whichever of the A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares traded in the GBP denomination is economically the least expensive on a given trading day.

The broker will make its trading decisions in relation to the company’s securities independently of the company. The next tranche will be carried out on the London Stock Exchange and/or on BATS and/or on Chi-X and will be effected within certain pre-set parameters. It will be conducted in accordance with the company’s general authority to repurchase shares granted by its shareholders at the company’s Annual General Meeting held on May 21, 20191, and in line with Chapter 12 of the Listing Rules, Article 5 of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014/EU dealing with buyback programmes and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052.

The purpose of the next tranche is to reduce the issued share capital of the company to offset the number of shares issued under the Scrip Dividend Programme and, in combination with the other tranches of the share buyback programme, to significantly reduce the equity issued in connection with the company’s combination with BG Group. All shares repurchased as part of the next tranche will be cancelled.

Any further tranches of the buyback programme, which may be conducted after completion of the tranche announced today, will be announced in due course.

_{¹ The existing shareholder authority to buy back shares granted at the company’s 2019 Annual General Meeting expires at the earlier of the close of business on August 21, 2020, and the end of the date of the company’s 2020 Annual General Meeting. The company expects to seek renewal of shareholder authority to buy back shares at subsequent Annual General Meetings.}

Cautionary statement

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement “Shell”, “Shell group” and “Royal Dutch Shell” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ‘‘Subsidiaries’’, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as “joint ventures” and “joint operations”, respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as “associates”. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest. read more

MICHAEL BOW: 31 Oct 2019

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell spooked investors on Thursday by warning that bleaker economic conditions could slow a major share buyback plan.

The company hinted a $25 billion buyback scheduled to be finished by 2020 may extend into 2021 because of worsening economic conditions, which could force the firm to keep more money back as a precaution. 

The buyback plan was launched in July 2018 and the timeline signalled Shell’s confidence in the oil price and outlook for the company. The shares today fell 2.5%, or 59p, to 2270p. read more

By HARRY WISE FOR THISISMONEY.CO.UK and PA

PUBLISHED: 12:19, 31 October 2019 | UPDATED: 12:27, 31 October 2019

Oil giant Shell has experienced a large fall in third-quarter profits due to weaker oil prices.

Earnings after stripping out fluctuating expenses fell 15 per cent to £3.7billion, well below estimates it might reach almost £5billion.

Shell was able to charge an average of £43.25 per barrel of oil it produced in the quarter, down from £52.69 in the same three months last year. It was even more than a dollar lower than the second quarter price. read more

Sam Meredith: 31 Oct 2019

POINTS

• Net income attributable to shareholders on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, used as a proxy for net profit, and excluding identified items, came in at $4.767 billion for the third quarter of 2019.
• That compared with a profit of $5.624 billion in the same quarter a year ago and $3.462 billion in the second quarter.
• Shares of the Anglo-Dutch oil company are down more than 1% when compared to the same period in 2018.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter net profit on Thursday, citing lower energy prices and chemicals margins.

Net income attributable to shareholders on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, used as a proxy for net profit, and excluding identified items, came in at $4.767 billion for the third quarter of 2019. That compared with a profit of $5.624 billion in the same quarter a year ago and $3.462 billion in the second quarter. read more

EXTRACT FROM ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC 3RD QUARTER 2019 UNAUDITED RESULTS

31 Oct 2019

Compared with the third quarter 2018, CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding identified items were $4.8 billion, reflecting lower realised oil, LNG and gas prices, as well as weaker realised refining and chemicals margins. This was partly offset by significantly stronger contributions from LNG and oil products trading and optimisation as well as higher realised margins in retail and global commercial.

Compared with the third quarter 2018, cash flow from operating activities excluding working capital movements was $12.1 billion, reflecting lower earnings, higher pension contributions and lower dividends received. read more

Ron Bousso: OCTOBER 31, 2019 LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s third-quarter profit dropped by 15% on weaker oil prices but easily beat expectations thanks to a boost from oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading.

The better than expected results in the face of oil prices that fell 17% year on year underscores Shell’s tranformation in recent years, with deep cost cuts and a focus on returns after the 2014 industry downturn.

Net income attributable to shareholders, based on a current cost of supplies (CCS) and excluding identified items, fell to $4.8 billion from a year earlier.

That compared with a profit forecast of $3.91 billion in a company-provided survey of analysts.

“This quarter we continued to deliver strong cash flow and earnings, despite sustained lower oil and gas prices, and chemicals margins,” Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said in a statement. read more