Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell continue to be hit by low oil prices in the first quarter, cutting its 2016 spending by a further 10 percent after completing the $54 billion acquisition of BG Group.

The group’s first earnings report since the acquisition of BG was better than expected by analysts, despite a 58 percent drop in profits to $800 million, from $4.8 billion a year earlier.

Shell cited continuing low oil prices as a reason for the fall in profits and have since come under pressure from shareholders to cut costs, announcing a decrease in investment from $33 billion to $30 billion.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden commented: “Downstream and integrated gas businesses are delivering strong results and underpinning our financial performance despite continued low oil and gas prices”

“The combination with BG is off to a strong start, as a result of detailed forward planning before the completion of the transaction. This will likely result in accelerated delivery of the synergies from the acquisition, and at a lower cost than we originally set out,” he added.

04/05/2016