To Shell and back

31 January 2019 By George Hay Follow @gfhay

Despite a crude downturn in the final quarter, the UK oil major hiked output and earnings. Given prices should stay high enough for free cash flow to cover dividends, that’s sustainable. The main cloud is Shell and peers have less to invest to wean themselves off fossil fuels.

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Royal Dutch Shell on Jan. 31 said net income in the fourth quarter rose 32 percent to $5.7 billion from the same period a year ago. That compared with a company-provided analysts' consensus forecast of $5.3 billion.

Excluding positive working capital movements of $9.1 billion, cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter was $12.9 billion.

Oil and gas production in the fourth quarter was up 1 percent from the same period a year earlier to the equivalent of nearly 3.8 million barrels of oil per day.

Shell shares were up 3.6 percent to 23.69 pounds by 0853 GMT on Jan. 31.

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