Energy

Shell share price dips after warning Q4 income will be hit by impairment charges

Key Points
  • Shell issued a fouth-quarter trading update.
  • Shares dipped after the company announced it could record a $2.3 billion impairment charge.
  • Energy stocks have struggled to make gains in 2019.
A driver delivers 7,500 gallons of unleaded gasoline to a Shell station in Peoria, Illinois.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Royal Dutch Shell dipped 0.7% in trade Friday after the firm announced that it will book additional charges against its income in the fourth quarter.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant said it expects to log a fourth-quarter impairment charge ranging between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion after tax.

Details on the impairment were not provided. Swiss bank UBS described the range as "relatively small," although noted other charges which, when added on, would depress fourth-quarter earnings by around $3 billion in total.

Capital expenditure expectations is also being trimmed and is now expected to sit close to around $24 billion from October to the end of December.

Production of oil and gas is expected to rise from the third quarter. Upstream oil production is forecast to sit between 2,775 and 2,825 thousand barrels of oil per day.

Royal Dutch Shell has two classes of share listed in both London and Amsterdam. On Friday, its 'B' share listing on the Amsterdam exchange had slid almost 1% from its Thursday closing price.

Over 2019, the same class of share is higher by about 1.37%.

Shell highlighted "materially lower" margins in its chemicals division and also warned on returns from liquified natural gas.

The firm is due to publish fourth-quarter results on January 30.

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