By Tsvetana Paraskova – Feb 02, 2017, 3:03 PM CST
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) is making “significant progress” on selling another US$5 billion worth of assets, chief financial officer Simon Henry said on Thursday after the oil supermajor reported 2016 profits below analyst expectations.
Shell’s current cost of supplies (CCS) – a key measure comparable with net income – came in at US$1.8 billion, excluding identified items, compared with US$1.6 billion for the fourth quarter 2015, the company said today. Full-year 2016 CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding identified items dropped to US$7.2 billion from US$11.4 billion in 2015.
The fourth-quarter profit fell short of analyst estimates by around US$1 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Shell was the third oil major in as many profit releases this earnings season so far that have missed analyst expectations, following Chevron and Exxon.
Shell, however, had two brighter points in its earnings report: lowered debt and increased cash flow. The company cut its net debt to US$73.346 billion at end-December from US$77.845 billion as of end-September 2016. Gearing – net debt as percentage of total capital – also dropped, to 28 percent from 29.2 percent at end-September 2016.
“Debt has been reduced and, for the second consecutive quarter, free cash flow more than covered our cash dividend,” CEO Ben van Beurden said in the company statement.
Speaking to Bloomberg, the manager said that there is a US$5-billion divestment “almost announced”.
Just two days ago, Shell announced it had agreed to sell a package of UK North Sea assets to Chrysaor for a total of up to US$3.8 billion and a stake in a field offshore Thailand for US$900 million.
In Shell’s earnings release, van Beurden said:
“We are gaining momentum on divestments, with some $15 billion completed in 2016, announced, or in progress, and we are on track to complete our overall $30 billion divestment program as planned.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
