- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
Shell profit tumbles on falling oil and gas prices
British energy giant Shell on Thursday said its net profit more than halved to $19.4 billion last year as oil and gas prices weakened.
Profit after tax slumped 54 percent after reaching an all-time high of $42.3 billion in 2022, when energy producer Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent prices of fossil fuels soaring.
"Full year 2023 income... reflected lower realised oil and gas prices, lower volumes, and lower refining margins," Shell added in the earnings release.
It was slammed also by impairment and other accounting charges totalling $7.5 billion.
Revenue dived almost a fifth to $316.6 billion.
Despite the declines, Shell said it was returning $3.5 billion to shareholders and ramping up its fourth-quarter dividend.
- 'Obscene profits' -
"As we enter 2024 we are continuing to simplify our organisation with a focus on delivering more value with less emissions," chief executive Wael Sawan said in the earnings statement.
Environmentalists were not convinced, however, with Greenpeace activists dressed as Shell board members protesting outside the company's London headquarters on Thursday.
"Shell is posting yet more obscene profits from climate-wrecking fossil fuels," said Greenpeace campaigner Maja Darlington.
"While customers struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, Shell shovels over billions to shareholders and drills for yet more oil and gas. Climate disasters are multiplying and hitting hardest those who have done the least to cause the crisis."
Sawan, former head of renewable energy at Shell, plans in March to update the company's strategy on transitioning to cleaner fuels.
"What you should expect coming in March is real clarity on what are the areas that we will continue to go forward with, not a whole bunch of new targets," Sawan told a conference call listened to by analysts and media.
The fossil fuels giant insists that its overall goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 remains intact.
This as the energy sector still looks to profit from the relatively high cost of oil and gas.
Prices are currently benefitting from concerns that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spread into a broader conflict in the crude-rich Middle East.
The group's share price closed up 2.41 percent at £25.06 on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which ended slightly down overall.
Shell on Thursday added that net profit tumbled 93 percent to $474 million in the fourth quarter on large impairments, particularly linked to chemical assets in Singapore.
Net profit excluding exceptional items sank nearly a third to $28.3 billion last year -- but this beat market expectations.
"A wavering oil price was inevitably the main culprit for the reduced full-year result," noted Richard Hunter, head of markets at trading firm Interactive Investor.
"From a broader perspective, and despite the current geopolitical tensions which have provided a base for the oil price, the uncertain economic environment globally has left the demand situation unclear."
Hunter added: "The industry is the focus of some debate from an environmental perspective, with the ever-increasing possibility that some investors will be unwilling or unable to invest in the sector on ethical grounds."
L.Mason--AMWN