The British oil giant Shell announced a net profit in the first quarter of 7,100 million dollars, a record increase of 26%, driven by the increase in the price of hydrocarbons due to the war in Ukraine.
The result is affected by an after-tax charge of 3.9 billion dollars linked to the phase out of its oil and gas activities in Russia decided after the invasion of Ukraine.
Excluding one-off charges and items, quarterly profit amounts to $9.1 billion, a record for the group. Its turnover increased 51% to $84.2 billion in the first three months of 2022, Shell said in a statement.
Hydrocarbon prices have risen sharply in recent months due to fears of shortages and the sanctions applied to Russia, a major oil and gas exporter.
This conflict “has caused significant disruptions in global energy markets and has shown that secure, reliable and affordable energy cannot be taken for granted,” said Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden.
“The impacts of this uncertainty and the higher costs that come with it are being felt everywhere,” he added.
The energy group announced at the end of February that it was going to sell its stake in all joint ventures with the Russian state giant Gazprom, which it announced last month would affect between 4,000 and 5,000 million dollars in its quarterly results.
The impact is less than that suffered by its British rival BP, which announced on Tuesday the largest quarterly loss in its history, 20.4 billion dollars, marked by a surcharge of 25.5 billion for its departure from Russia.
“We can’t trace where the crude originates”
Shell no longer markets Russian oil and plans to terminate most of its long-term purchase contracts from Russia by the end of the year, however, Ben van Beurden warned that it is really difficult to have traceability of the crude they refine.
“We don’t have systems in the world that track whether that particular molecule originated from a geological formation in Russia … that doesn’t exist,” Shell’s chief executive told reporters after the British company reported a profit. record in the first quarter.
Russia supplied more than a quarter of Europe’s crude oil and refined products last year.
Current sanctions do not take into account where Russian crude is refined and treated. “So, therefore, the diesel coming out of an Indian refinery that was fueled with Russian crude is considered to be Indian diesel,” he explained.
With information from AFP and Reuters
