Europe’s biggest oil company Royal Dutch Shell has posted a sharp decline in quarterly profits following falls in the oil price.
Shell said first-quarter crude and natural-gas production fell 3.6 per cent because of reduced Nigerian output and Opec restrictions.
Profit fell to $3.3 billion (£2.24bn), down 58 per cent from the same period a year ago and 31 per cent lower than the previous quarter.
The price of crude oil has recently been at about $50 a barrel, down from a record high of $147 last July.
Total output, including bitumen from oil sands, declined to 3.396 million barrels of oil equivalent a day from 3.522 million barrels a day a year earlier, Shell said today in a statement.
“Upstream oil and gas volumes were impacted by ongoing security challenges in Nigeria, OPEC quota restrictions and weakening industrial demand for natural gas,” the statement said.
Shell has previously forecast annual production growth of 2 per cent to 3 per cent starting next year.
The company, which operates onshore and offshore joint ventures in Nigeria, has been forced to curtail some production in the country this year because of pipeline fires and militant violence.
Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, including Nigeria, began restricting oil production late last year in the wake of tumbling prices and falling demand.
Agencies