Shell flags fourth-quarter impairment charge, sending shares lower

Investing.com -- Shares in Shell PLC (LON:SHEL) were lower in European trading on Monday after the oil major said that it would book an impairment charge of up to $4.5 billion in the fourth quarter.

In a statement, the Anglo-Dutch group said that it expects to be hit by non-cash post tax impairments of between $2.5B-$4.5B, citing "macro [and] external developments," along with "portfolio choices" that included its Singapore chemicals and products assets.

Last summer, London-based Shell announced it was conducting a strategic review of a 237,000 barrels per day refining-petrochemical center and a one million metric ton per day ethylene plant on Singapore's Bukom and Jurong islands.

Shell, which is due to release its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 1, added that it anticipates gains from its key integrated gas trading unit to be higher versus the prior three-month period. The result would come despite a recent downturn in crude prices partly stemming from rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Integrated gas production is also seen in a range of 880,000-920,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the final quarter of its 2023 fiscal year, a slightly narrower band than its prior estimate of 870,000-930,000.