Shell’s new chief financial officer said yesterday that the oil major was “not actively working on” more North Sea asset sales, but did not rule out further UK divestment.
Jessica Uhl, who took over the role from Simon Henry in March, said the UK was one of Shell’s “heartlands” and that the firm expected to “maintain activity levels” there.
Ms Uhl also said “some good progress” had been made recently to create a stable and attractive investment climate in the UK.
But she said the make-up of Shell’s asset portfolio was always “subject to review” and that its UK business was “no different” to any other region in that respect.
Shell has completed or announced more than £15.5billion worth of asset sales as it closes on its £23billion divestment target for 2016-18.
The divestment programme was intended to help Shell balance its books following its takeover of BG Group.
In January, the firm announced the sale of its interests in nine UK North Sea fields and a 10% stake in Schiehallion, west of Shetland, to Chrysaor for up to £3billion.
On completion of the deal, about 400 staff members will transfer to Chrysaor from Shell.
Yesterday, Shell became the latest oil major to report an upturn in first quarter 2017 results, buoyed by higher oil prices.
On Tuesday, BP reported a marked improvement in its first quarter figures, while Statoil also published a strong set of results yesterday.
Brent crude dropped to around $30 at one point in the first quarter of 2016, but prices picked up and averaged between $50 and $60 in the first three months of this year.
An international deal on output cuts that came into effect on January 1 helped support prices, and analysts have said the agreement is likely to be extended later this month.
Asked whether Shell would like to see the output cuts continue, Ms Uhl said: “Prices will move. We can’t control them, but we can control how we run the company.”
Shell recorded pre-tax profits of £2.6billion during the first three months of 2017, a vast improvement on a deficit of £497million a year ago.
Revenues at Shell jumped 48% to £55.7billion, boosted by a 2% rise in oil and gas production to 3.7million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
New field start-ups and the ramping up of production on existing fields in Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and the Gulf of Mexico contributed to the output increase.
Free cash flow for the first quarter came to £4billion, which helped Shell reduce its debt and maintain a dividend of 36p per share.
Biraj Borkhataria, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said: “This is now the third consecutive quarter of dividend coverage, which coupled with the divestments to be cashed in later in the year, suggests Shell is shaping up to have a much better performance this year.”
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