London
Shell’s shares fell last week after the company reported a weakening third- quarter performance that may signal an end to its run of record profits, said Will Mathis on Bloomberg. Shell’s trading update, which comes ahead of a full earnings report due at the end of the month, reported lower margins in its gas-trading operations (hit by the volatile conditions) and its refining business ($15 a barrel, down from $28 in the previous quarter, when oil prices peaked). Its chemicals unit, “often seen as an indicator of the strength of the wider economy”, did even worse. There, margins collapsed from $86 per tonne in Q2 to an expected minus-$27 in Q3 owing to a slump in global demand for plastics. “Overall, we see the statement as disappointing,” said Biraj Borkhataria, an RBC Capital Markets analyst. “We would expect to see consensus downgrades on the back of this.” The weaker quarter for Shell is a “timely reminder that high oil and gas prices don’t always
