It was a week of firsts for Shell. A new chief financial officer, Sinead Gorman, presented her first set of hard numbers in its first-quarter results on Thursday. Those, too, set a precedent. The Anglo-Dutch oil company boasted its best-ever ebitda result in that period, and the top quarterly out-turn since June 2008.
She must help her boss Ben van Beurden perform a tricky balancing act. Shareholders hunger for payouts while some politicians hope to divert surfeit cash flow towards other perceived societal priorities.
Certainly, Shell gushes profit from every unit, including its downstream products division, which included a strong trading result. This business’s $2bn of ebitda gets credit for the group’s pleasant earnings surprise.
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