Royal Dutch Shell CCS Profit Rises on Oil Prices, Industry Conditions

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) on Thursday reported that profit increased in the third quarter, buoyed by a number of factors including rising oil prices.

The Anglo-Dutch company posted a quarterly profit on a current cost-of-supplies basis--a company-specific measure of profit that is closely watched by the market--of $3.7 billion, up from $1.45 billion a year earlier. The third-quarter profit figure comes above a company-provided forecast, based on a consensus estimate of 27 analysts, that predicted $3.62 billion profit on a current cost-of-supplies basis.

The company said that earnings benefited from stronger refining and chemicals industry conditions, increased oil and gas prices, and higher production from new fields which offset the impact of field declines and divestment.

Shell's Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said that the results are evidence of Shell's growing momentum.

The energy company added that it expects fourth-quarter upstream earnings to be negatively impacted by a production decline of 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, as a result of completed divestment. The company had set a target to sell assets worth $30 billion between 2016 and 2018, following its acquisition of BG Group.

The energy company declared a dividend of 47 cents, unchanged from the year before.

Write to Carlo Martuscelli at carlo.martuscelli@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 02, 2017 03:53 ET (07:53 GMT)