The bullish outlook came as Europe’s largest oil company by market capitalization unveiled weaker-than-forecast fourth quarter profits, after dismal industry-wide refining margins sent the crude processing division into a loss.
The company also announced a weaker rise in its dividend than some analysts expected, adding just 1 cent to its first quarter dividend for 2012, to US$0.43 per share.
Hague-based Shell said it was eyeing a return to strong production growth in the coming years, after nearly a decade. Apart from a 5 per cent rise in 2010, the group’s production has fallen every year since 2002.
“Oil & gas production should average some 4 million boe/d (barrels of oil equivalent per day) in 2017-18,” the company said in a statement.
Production averaged 3.215 million boe/d in 2011, a 3 per cent drop on 2010.
However, a big rise in crude prices outweighed this drop, and weak refining profits. Net profits for 2011 were US$24.69 billion (RM118.26 billion), up 37 per cent on the year.
The company said its fourth quarter current cost of supply (CCS) net income was US$6.46 billion, helped by one-off gains from the sale of assets.
Excluding one-offs, the result rose 18 per cent to US$4.85 billion, shy of an average forecast of US$5.17 billion from a Reuters poll of nine analysts.
Brent crude prices averaged US$109 per barrel last quarter, up from US$88 a year before.
CCS earnings strip out unrealised gains or losses related to changes in the value of inventories, and as such are comparable with net income under US accounting rules. — Reuters
