Shell says quarterly earnings will fall 48 percent [View all]

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http://www.adn.com/2014/01/19/3282070/shell-says-quarterly-earnings.html

Shell says quarterly earnings will fall 48 percent
By STANLEY REED
The New York Times
January 19, 2014

LONDON -- Roughly two weeks into his job, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell warned Friday that the oil company's fourth-quarter results would be lower than financial markets had anticipated.

"Our 2013 performance was not what I expect from Shell," the executive, Ben van Beurden, said in a statement as the company announced that adjusted earnings for the quarter would shrink to $2.9 billion, a 48 percent decline compared with the period a year earlier.

Shell, which is based in The Hague, blamed the poor performance on weak industry conditions in refining, higher exploration expenses and lower production of oil and natural gas.

"We're a bit shellshocked this morning after this profit warning, which is highly unusual for an integrated oil company," analysts at Bernstein in London wrote in a research note.