Shell axes spending as sliding oil prices dent profits

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell today unveiled plans to slash spending by more than USD 15 billion after posting lower annual profits on tumbling oil prices.
The group said it would cut spending by the equivalent of 13 billion euros over the next three years, mirroring similar cost-cutting moves by rivals in the energy sector which are also reacting to slumping oil prices.
Shell revealed the fresh cutbacks alongside news of an eight-per cent drop in net profits to USD 15.05 billion in 2014, compared with 2013.
The Anglo-Dutch company was hit hard by plunging earnings in the fourth quarter as the cost of crude collapsed.

"Compared with the fourth quarter 2013, earnings...Were impacted by the significant decline in (the price of) oil," Shell said in a statement.
Fourth-quarter net profit dived 57 per cent to USD 773 million compared with the final three months of 2013.

Annual profit excluding exceptional items and changes to the value of its oil inventories rose 16 percent to USD 22.5 billion.
"The agenda we set out in early 2014 to balance growth and returns has positioned us well for the current oil market downturn," Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said today.
"We are taking a prudent approach here and we must be careful not to over-react to the recent fall in oil prices. Shell is taking structured decisions to balance growth and returns," he added in the results statement.

Shell noted that lower prices created opportunities for the group to cut costs.
It added that deferring spending in many areas and driving costs down in the supply chain "should result in reduction of potential capital investment for 2015-17 of over USD 15 billion".
Tumbling crude oil prices are sending shock waves through the global energy industry, sparking the cancellation of many projects and job losses.
Earlier this month, Royal Dutch Shell and Qatar Petroleum scrapped plans for a petrochemicals project, worth an estimated USD 6.5 billion.
But it is still investing in expensive projects and yesterday signed an agreement with the Iraqi government potentially worth USD 1 billion to build a large petrochemicals plant in the country's south.

Earlier this month, rival BP shed 200 staff jobs and 100 contractors in its North Sea activities, one month after taking a USD 1.0-billion restructuring charge to combat sliding revenues.