Royal Dutch Shell said income from its Integrated Gas and Upstream pushed its net income for the second quarter beyond estimates.
Net income for the oil giant came in at $6 billion compared to $2 billion post in 2017 for the same period.
Shell said cash flow from operating activities for the second quarter 2018 was $9.5 billion, which included negative working capital movements of $2.1 billion, compared with $11.3 billion in the second quarter 2017, which included positive working capital movements of $2.5 billion.
Total dividends distributed to shareholders in the quarter were $3.9 billion. Today, Shell starts a share buyback programme of at least $25 billion in the period 2018-2020, subject to further progress with debt reduction and oil price conditions.
In the first tranche of this programme Shell enters into an irrevocable, non-discretionary arrangement to enable the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares up to the maximum aggregate consideration of $2 billion over a period of 3 months.
Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden commented:
“Today we are taking another important step towards the delivery of our world-class investment case, with the launch of a $25 billion share buyback programme.
This move complements the progress we have made since the completion of the BG acquisition in 2016, to reshape our portfolio through a $30 billion divestment programme and new projects, to reduce net debt, and to turn off the scrip dividend.
Our financial framework remains unchanged. Our free cash flow outlook and the progress we have made to strengthen our balance sheet give us the confidence to start our share buyback programme.”
