London | The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell announced Thursday that it had returned to the green in the first quarter with a net profit of 5.7 billion dollars, driven by the rise in oil prices.
He had spent a loss of 24 million dollars in the same period of 2020 at the start of the health crisis, and 21.7 billion for the whole of the past fiscal year, recalls the Anglo-Dutch group in a press release.
Shell has benefited, like the rest of the sector, from the sharp rebound in oil prices since their collapse in March and April 2020, with the US barrel even spending time in negative territory.
Prices are now hovering around $ 65, benefiting from hopes of an economic recovery with vaccination and the gradual lifting of restrictions, as well as efforts by OPEC countries and their partners to reduce production.
The competitors of Shell, the British BP and the French Total have also published their side comfortable profits for the first quarter.
Shell said its profit was further boosted by gains of $ 1.4 billion through asset disposals.
In parallel, the group passed a charge of $ 200 million related to a cold snap in Texas, which disrupted its activities in the region.
Shell also announces as expected an increase in its dividend in the first quarter, compared to the fourth quarter, after deciding to reduce it at the height of the health crisis for the first time since the 1940s.
The group also unveiled at the start of the year the details of its strategy to become carbon neutral, through investments in new energies and a reduction in its dependence on oil.
It forecasts a 1 to 2% drop in its oil production each year. Shell had previously specified that the peak of its oil production was reached in 2019, that is to say before the pandemic came to strike a very hard blow to the oil market.
