Shell on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $3.66 billion, missing estimates, on lower refining margins and lower liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading, while saying it would buy back shares worth $3.5 billion.
The oil major also announced a 4% increase in its dividend.
Since taking office two years ago CEO Wael Sawan has focused on cutting costs and realigning the company with its most profitable sectors - oil, gas and biofuels - while shifting away from renewable power generation.
The world's top oil and gas companies experienced a decline in profits through 2024, following record earnings in the previous two years, as energy prices stabilised and oil demand weakened.
Shell reported adjusted earnings, its definition of net profit, of $3.66 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $7.31 billion a year earlier.
That was short of the $4.09 billion expected by analysts polled by Vara Research.
(Reuters - Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; editing by Savio D'Souza and Jason Neely)
