Shell sees a fall in Q1 fuel sales

Photo: AP

Royal Dutch Shell announced it expected a significant drop in fuel sales in the first quarter of 2021, Reuters reported. The world’s biggest fuel retailer expects a very slow recovery of the markets undermined by Covid-19 lockdowns in major industrial countries. In a trading update, Shell said it saw refined oil product sales at 3.7-4.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first quarter of 2021, compared with just under 4.8 million bpd in the last quarter of 2020. It had previously forecast sales of 4-5 million bpd.

Refinery utilization rates in the quarter stood at 71%-75%, compared with a forecast of 73%-81%. Shell’s refining margins have improved to around $2.6 per barrel in the quarter from $1.6 in the previous quarter. In gas, Shell said it expected trading results to be “significantly below average”.

Shell sees its first-quarter liquefied natural gas production at 7.8-8.4 million tones, compared with 8.2 million in the previous quarter and a forecast of 8-8.6 million tones. Total upstream production was expected to rise to 2.4-2.48 million barrel of oil equivalent, at the lower end of the forecasted range, from 2.37 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

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