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Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Thursday profit fell significantly in the fourth quarter of 2019, weighed by lower realized oil, gas and liquefied natural gas prices.
The oil giant RDS.A, -0.34% RDS.B, -0.81% RDSA, -4.04% RDSB, -3.62% said profit for the three months on a net current cost-of-supplies basis–a metric similar to the net income that U.S. oil companies report-was $871 million, down from $7.33 billion.
Adjusted CCS earnings attributable to shareholders–Shell’s preferred metric which excludes identified items–was $2.9 billion, down from $5.69 billion. The company blamed weaker realized refining and chemicals margins as well as negative movements in deferred tax positions.
Quarterly net profit attributable to shareholders fell to $965 million, compared with $5.59 billion. This was well below the $3.36 billion, which two analysts on FactSet had estimated.
For the quarter, revenue was $84.01 billion, down 18% from the previous year’s quarter.
The company said that its intention to complete the $25 billion share-buyback program is unchanged, but cautioned that the pace of the buyback remains subject to macro conditions as well as further debt reduction.
The board maintained its quarterly dividend at $0.47.
