Shell Quarterly Profits Beats Forecasts

Shell beat third-quarter profit forecasts on Thursday, helped by strong results from its gas division, and said it would maintain the pace of its share buyback programme at $3.5 billion over the next three months.

The oil major said adjusted earnings, its definition of net profit, fell 10% year-on-year to $5.4 billion in July to September due to lower prices. But that topped analysts' average estimate of $5.09 billion in a poll of analysts provided by the company.

The buyback pledge marks the 16th consecutive quarter when Shell will have returned at least $3 billion to shareholders via repurchasing shares.

Shell, the world's largest liquefied natural gas trader, reported quarterly cash flow from operations of $12.2 billion, down from $14.7 billion during the same quarter last year.

Profit at its integrated gas business came in at $2.14 billion, above analysts' estimate of $1.97 billion, but below last year's $2.87 billion.

Upstream unit profit of $1.8 billion also beat analysts' forecast of $1.6 billion, but were down from last year's $2.44 billion.

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