Shell posts decline of earnings, rise of income in 2016

THE HAGUE, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Shell's income attributable to shareholders more than doubled in the full-year 2016, but the CCS earnings excluding identified items went down by 37 percent, the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company announced on Thursday.

The earnings on a current cost of supplies basis (CCS), excluding identified items, dropped to 6.645 billion euros (7.185 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, compared to 10.587 billion euros (11.446 billion U.S. dollars) in the full-year 2015.

The earning excluding identified items were impacted by the decline in oil and LNG (liquefied natural gas) prices and higher taxation.

In the fourth quarter, the CCS earnings, excluding identified items, rose from 1.453 billion euros (1.572 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015 to 1.660 billion euros (1.795 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016.

Compared with Q4 of 2015, the earnings benefited from higher contributions from the Upstream and Chemicals divisions, partly offset by lower contributions from Refining and Trading departments.

The income attributable to shareholders amounted to 4.231 billion euros (4.575 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, compared to 1.793 billion euros (1.939 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, the income attributable to shareholders was 1.426 billion euros (1.541 billion U.S. dollars), compared to 868 million euros (939 million U.S. dollars) in Q4 of 2015.

On February 15, 2016, Shell completed the acquisition of the British oil and gas company BG Group. Shell stated that the operating expenses were lower, more than offsetting the impact of the consolidation of BG, while depreciation and net interest expense increased, mainly resulting from this BG acquisition.

With 2016 having been a transition year, in which two companies had to be integrated, CEO Ben van Beurden was satisfied with the full-year results.

"We are reshaping Shell and delivered a good cash flow performance this quarter with 8.487 billion euros (9.170 billion U.S. dollars) in cash flow from operations," Van Beurden said.

"Looking ahead, we will further focus the portfolio and strengthen the company's financial framework in 2017," the CEO added.

"Our strategy is starting to pay off and in 2017 we will be investing around 23 billion euros (around 25 billion U.S. dollars) in high quality, resilient projects. I am confident 2017 will be another year of progress for Shell to become a world-class investment."