Shell & TechnipFMC both reveal heavy losses

30/07/2020
Ben van Beurden, Shell chief executive

SHELL has revealed a loss of £14.1 billion for the second quarter of 2020 after a record writedown on the value of its oil and gas assets due to the collapse in price during Covid-19.

The energy giant took an impairment charge of $16.8billion (£12.9bn) – $22.3bn pre-tax (£17.2bn).

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Shell’s second quarter results compare to a profit of $3.1bn (£2.39bn) in the same period last year, while revenues have dropped to $32.5bn, compared to $60bn in Q1 2020 and $90.5bn Q2 2019.

Pre-tax, Shell’s losses stand at $23.9bn, down from profits of $4.9bn in Q2 2019.

Ben van Beurden, CEO, said: “Shell has delivered resilient cash flow in a remarkably challenging environment.

“We continue to focus on safe and reliable operations and our decisive cash preservation measures will underpin the strengthening of our balance sheet.

“Our high-quality integrated portfolio, disciplined execution and forward-looking strategy enable sustained competitive free cash flow generation.”

Meanwhile, TechnipFMC has recorded pre-tax losses of £2.4bn for the first half of 2020 thanks to heavy write-downs of its oil and gas assets.

The energy services giant has released its H1 results which compare to a profit of £114m in the first half last year.

The losses primarily relate to heavy impairments for its subsea and other businesses totalling £2.4bn, which were recorded in the first quarter.

However, the second quarter has shown a slightly improvement for the firm, which posted pre-tax profits of £25.4m for that period.

TechnipFMC said it is “on track” to make annualised savings of more than $350m (£270m) by year-end.

Revenues were £4.8bn for the first six months, down slightly from £4.89 in the same period last year.

The firm also experienced no cancellations of its backlog, over the period, which sits at nearly $21bn (£16.2bn).

Doug Pferdehirt, chief executive said: “We entered this period with a solid foundation built upon the strength of our balance sheet, backlog and execution.

“While client conversations remain ongoing, the increased visibility we have today gives us confidence in our full-year guidance for all business segments.

“This is further supported by the acceleration of our business transformation initiatives to maintain – if not expand – our market leadership.”

 

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