Shell announces major discovery, profits

THE HAGUE, February 1, 2018 – Shell’s net profits for 2017 have surged 119% since 2016, the super-major announced on Thursday, hours after reporting a massive Gulf of Mexico find.

The Whale well in deepwater Alaminos Canyon Block 772 has struck more than 427 metres of oil deposits, making it one of its largest discoveries in the area in the past 10 years, the company announced on Wednesday. The project is operated by Shell (60%) and owned jointly with Chevron (40%).

The news also came as Shell picked up nine blocks in Mexico’s deepwater Round 2.4, four of which it won on its own and the rest with partners.

In its Q4 and FY 2017 results released on Thursday, meanwhile, Shell said that net profit attributable to shareholders on a current cost of supplies basis stood at USD 4.3 billion in Q4, 140% higher year-on-year, and at USD 15.8 billion for the full year, or 119% higher than in 2016.

“[2017 was] a year of transformation, in which we showed we have what it takes to deliver a world-class investment case,” said CEO Ben van Beurden.

“Our relentless focus on value, performance and competitiveness meant we were able to deliver USD 39 billion of cashflow from operations excluding working capital movements from our upgraded portfolio. We strengthened our financial framework during the year through a USD 8-billion reduction in our net debt, while our increased free cashflow generation gave us the confidence to cancel the scrip dividend programme in the fourth quarter, in line with what we said previously.”

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