(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)
Oil major Shell (LON:RDSB) increased its fourth quarter profit despite the 50% slump in oil prices since the middle of last year.
The Anglo-Dutch company’s fourth quarter earnings on a current cost basis were US$4.16bn up from US$2.9bln a year earlier but 20% lower than its third quarter.
Lower costs and taxes boosted the oil refining marketing and distribution downstream business and helped to offset the impact of sliding crude prices on its upstream exploration and production arm.
Full-year earnings were US$19bn a rise of 14% from 2013.
Chief executive Ben van Beurden said Shell would cut its capital expenditure by US$15bln over the next three years to reflect the lower price environment- the current price of a barrel of Brent crude is US$49.
He added that Shell which has US$20bn of cash on its balance sheet could weather the low oil price as well as any of its rivals and would focus on lower costs and delivering its current projects.
“Shell has options to further reduce spending but we are not over-reacting to current low oil prices and keeping our best opportunities on the table” he said.
The board expects that the first quarter 2015 interim dividend will be US$0.47 unchanged in dollar terms from the quarterly dividends paid in 2014. Shell usually pays the same dividend in all four quarters of the year and then reviews the policy when the new financial year starts.
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