Dow Jones Newswires
Shell, the biggest European energy company, beat analyst expectations for earnings in the second quarter, setting the stage for U.S. rivals Exxon and Chevron to report on Friday.
Like crosstown London rival BP, Shell posted a drop in profit from the first quarter. Adjusted earnings came in at $6.3 billion, down from $7.3 billion in the first three months of the year but better than Wall Street’s estimate of $6 billion. Shell’s integrated natural gas business was hurt by weaker trading and lower prices.
The company said it would buy back $3.5 billion of shares in the third quarter and kept its dividend of $0.344 per share. The stock gained 1.6% in U.K. trading and its American depositary receipts were up 0.7% in the premarket.
Oil prices remain well below well they were in 2022, when they spiked and created record profits in the industry. But prices have gained recently amid heightened tension in the Middle East.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. standard, rose 0.8% on Thursday to $78.52 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by the same amount to $81.51 a barrel.
BP and Exxon had warned that second-quarter results would be hurt by weaker refining margins, and that problem also showed up in Shell’s report. The global average margin fell to $8 a barrel from $12 a barrel in the first quarter, it said.
Exxon and Chevron post results on Aug. 2.
Write to Brian Swint at brian.swint@barrons.com
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