Europe’s largest oil company Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported a first-quarter net profit of US$3.49 billion yesterday, down 62 percent as oil prices fell sharply amid the global economic downturn.
The net profit figure compares with US$9.08 billion in the same period a year ago. Sales fell 49 percent to US$58.2 billion.
The company’s results are dominated by its production arm, which reported a 67 percent fall in earnings to US$1.7 billion. Both oil production and sales prices fell.
Shell said it pumped 3.32 million barrels of oil and equivalents per day, a 3.5 percent fall, because of quota restrictions by OPEC and attacks on its facilities in Nigeria.
Shell’s average selling price per barrel in the quarter was US$42.16, down from US$90.72 a year ago.
Despite the actual fall, “underlying production, compared with the first quarter of 2008, increased by some 200,000 barrels of oil per day,” Shell said in a statement.
It attributed the “underlying” increase to production from new fields and increased production at fields opened in recent years.
After seven years of declining production volumes, Shell has been investing heavily in new production and has promised an average yearly increase of at least 3 percent through 2012.
It plans US$31 billion in investments this year, compared with US$20 billion by close rival BP PLC of Britain. Shell’s first-quarter investments were US$7.1 billion, it said.
Shell said new fields that had begun production in the quarter include a large gas project on Russia’s Sakhalin Island that is expected to eventually deliver 395,000 barrels per day. It didn’t give any data on how much the Sakhalin facility is pumping now.
The company’s second largest business, refining, earned US$1.40 billion, down from US$2.37 billion a year earlier. Shell said that was because of a combination of lower volumes and worse margins. Margins improved in Asia and the US West coast, but were worse in Europe and the US Gulf Coast, which are larger markets for Shell.
The company said it planned to pay a dividend of US$0.42 per share in the first quarter, an increase of 5 percent.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from