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Jillian Ambrose - Thu 1 Aug 2019 13.22 BSTLast modified on Thu 1 Aug 2019 20.40 BST
Shell has invested heavily in shifting the balance of its portfolio away from oil to gas in recent years. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
Royal Dutch Shell has blamed a slowdown in the global economy for a sharp fall in profits, which came in more than a $1bn lower than analysts were expecting.
Shell’s profits were down a quarter to $3.5bn (£2.9bn) in the three months to the end of June, well below City forecasts of almost $5bn. It was the biggest profits miss since the oil price crash in 2016.
The Anglo-Dutch company pumped more oil and gas than in the year before but blamed the “challenging” global macroeconomic environment for its poor quarterly performance.
The US-China trade war has put the brakes on Asia’s economic growth, which, in turn, has contributed to weaker global gas markets and has dampened profits made by refineries.
Falling gas prices come as a blow to Shell, which has invested heavily in shifting the balance of its portfolio away from oil in recent years.
Shell owns one of the biggest new gas export projects, which began operations in Australia this year to supply the Asia market.
