Shell set to see gas trading fall after ‘exceptional’ end to 2023

SHELL has revealed that trading in its gas division in recent months is set to drop after an “exceptional” end to the year for the energy giant.

The company saw its annual profits fall in 2023 compared with the previous year when soaring oil prices drove profits to an all-time high.

But its performance picked up in the final quarter with underlying earnings, including taxes, boosted by 17% compared with the previous three months to more than 7 billion US dollars (£5.6 billion).

In the latest update to shareholders, Shell said it expects trading in its integrated gas division between January and March to be “strong but significantly lower than an exceptional” final quarter.

Nonetheless, it forecasts it will produce between 960,000 and one million barrels of oil equivalent per day over the first three months of the year.

This is higher than previous guidance, and an increase compared with the 901,000 barrels of oil equivalent produced per day in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, trading in its chemicals and products division is set to be significantly higher than in the final quarter, with losses also expected to have trimmed.

For its upstream unit, Shell predicts it will take an exploration writeoff of about 600 million US dollars (£475 million), mainly in Albania.

Shell’s chief executive Wael Sawan said in February that the group had “made good progress” over the year and was planning to focus on prowho ducing “more value with less emissions”.

Last month the oil giant watered down one of its climate pledges because of a change to its strategy in the electricity sector.

The company will now focus on “value over volume” in the sector and focus more on selling electricity to business customers rather than households.