Majors face North American ‘headwinds’

摘要

Weaker upstream profits weighed on the results of ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron last year, while a downstream revival pushed up only ExxonMobil’s overall profits compared with a year earlier. Shell increased its production by 1pc last year to 3.26mn b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d), its second-highest level in five years. But with costs rising and natural gas accounting for much of the firm’s production growth, profits suffered, particularly in North America. Shell’s profits fell by 6pc, but increased by 2pc excluding identified items — mainly profits from divestments.