Look to the future

Oil prices will have dented Royal Dutch Shell's earnings so the focus at tomorrow's 1Q results will be on how the group is going to move on from here

Catharina Milostan | 28-04-09 | E-mail Article

Royal Dutch Shell's first quarter 2009 results, due for release Wednesday morning, will give us a first look at how the firm is managing the dual challenges of low oil prices and weakened refined product demand amid a troubled global economy. No doubt low oil prices will likely dampen first quarter upstream earnings over year ago levels. We'll be looking for signs of how Royal Dutch Shell will focus on higher-returning projects and take advantage of any declines in oilfield service costs.

Also on our radar will be any updates on how Sakhalin II LNG (liquefied natural gas) production is progressing after a late March 2009 start-up and details of recent supply agreements.

On the downstream side, we'll look to see how the benefits of lower oil feedstocks compare against the negative effects of lower refined product demand. Also of interest will be any updates on earlier comments made at the oil & gas heavyweight's March business update on potential refining and marketing asset sales in Germany and New Zealand.

Royal Dutch Shell already announced plans to raise its first quarter 2009 dividend to $0.42 from $0.40 the prior quarter. We'll be looking for hints from managment on future dividend growth goals during the earnings call.

Catharina Milostan is a stock analyst with Morningstar.com.

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