Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday cut its estimated oil and gas production in the first quarter of 2020. The Anglo-Dutch company also warned investors of significant uncertainty regarding its fuel demand and value due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In its latest Q1 guidance, Shell said it estimated its upstream production to reach 2.65 million-2.72 million boepd and 920,000-970,000 boepd of integrated gas for LNG in the first quarter of 2020. In the previous guidance, Shell expected to report an upstream production of 2.63 million-2.76 million boepd and 950,000-980,000 boepd of integrated gas output.
Oil prices collapsed by 66% in the first quarter, and Shell said that the weak macro environment had impacted its upstream margins. Marketing margins are expected to be strong despite the pandemic. Meanwhile, refinery utilization rates are estimated to range between 80% and 84%, with refining margins estimated to be lower than in Q4 2019.
Shell estimated its LNG liquefaction volumes to reach 8.8 million-9.2 million tons in Q1, compared to 9 million-9.5 million tons in its previous guidance. Oil products sales are expected to be 6 million-7 million bpd, lower than 6.4 million-7 million bpd in the last guidance.
Shell expected adjusted earnings of $2.52 billion in Q1, down from $5.3 billion posted in the same quarter last year. The company will release its final Q1 earnings results on April 30.
