Shell Q1 Earnings Impress But Revenues and LNG Sales Decline

Core Viewpoint - Shell plc reported first-quarter 2025 earnings per ADS of $1.84, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.54, driven by higher natural gas realizations, although down from $2.38 in the previous year due to lower LNG sales [1][2]. Financial Performance - Shell's revenues for the first quarter were $70.2 billion, a decrease from $74.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024, missing the consensus estimate by 12.2% [2]. - The company repurchased $3.3 billion in shares during the first quarter and plans an additional $3.5 billion in repurchases for the second quarter [2]. - Cash flow from operations was $9.3 billion, down 29.5% year-over-year, with free cash flow of $5.3 billion compared to $9.8 billion a year ago [9]. Segment Performance - Upstream: Reported a profit of $2.3 billion, up from $1.9 billion year-over-year, mainly due to higher natural gas prices [2]. - Integrated Gas: Adjusted income fell to $2.5 billion from $3.7 billion, impacted by a 2.3% decrease in LNG sales volumes to 16.49 million tons [5]. - Chemicals and Products: Adjusted profit dropped 72% to $449 million from $1.6 billion, attributed to unfavorable tax movements [4]. - Marketing: Income increased to $900 million from $781 million year-over-year, due to lower operating expenses and higher margins [6]. - Renewables and Energy Solutions: Reported an adjusted loss of $42 million, down from a profit of $163 million, primarily due to asset disposals [7]. Production and Pricing - Worldwide realized liquids prices averaged $71.49 per barrel, down 6.6% year-over-year, while natural gas prices increased by 21.3% [3]. - Upstream volumes averaged 1,855 thousand oil-equivalent barrels per day, a slight decrease of 0.9% from the previous year [3]. - Liquids production rose by 0.3% to 1,335 thousand barrels per day, while natural gas output fell by 3.7% to 3,020 million standard cubic feet per day [3]. Guidance - For the second quarter of 2025, Shell expects upstream volumes between 1,560-1,760 MBOE/d and Integrated Gas production between 890 MBOE/d and 950 MBOE/d [10].