Shell expecting write-down of up to £3.4bn in Q4

Shell has said it will take charges of several billion dollars in its final quarter of the financial year, the latest write-down from the oil major.

A Shell platform in the North Sea. Picture: Shell International Limited.

The London and Amsterdam listed company said it will likely take post-tax charges in aggregate between $3.5 billion (£2.6bn) and $4.5bn, after another tough quarter.The expected charges come in part because of the costs of transforming its refinery portfolio, as well as onerous gas contracts and an impairment in the Gulf of Mexico.It comes months after the company announced a $16.8bn write-down in its second quarter, as it revised its outlook for the price of oil.

In the fourth quarter, Shell's refineries are expected to have been utilised at between 72 per cent and 76 per cent of their capacity. In an update, Shell added that it expects production from its upstream unit, which extracts oil and gas, to average between 2.28 and 2.35 million barrels of oil equivalent every day during the quarter.

This was affected by hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, which hit production by between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels, and mild weather in Northern Europe in the first part of the quarter.

Adjusted upstream earnings are now expected to show a loss unless the price of oil changes significantly, Shell said. It comes as the price of Brent crude currently sits at $50.65 per barrel.

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