Royal Dutch Shell’s full year income surged over 130 percent in 2016 as upstream results improved in the fourth quarter.
The company earned $4.57 billion in full year 2016 income attributable to shareholders, up from $1.93 billion in the previous year.
Fourth quarter income attributable to shareholders rose to $1.54 billion, up from $939 million in the prior-year quarter.
Current cost of supplies (CCS) earnings attributable to shareholders dipped 8 percent year-over-year to $3.53 billion for the full year 2016.
Fourth quarter 2016 CCS earnings attributable to shareholders fell to $1.03 billion, down from $1.84 billion in the prior-year quarter.
The company’s upstream segment earnings jumped to $54 million in fourth quarter 2016, up from a loss of $1 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Full year 2016 upstream earnings fell to a loss of $2.7 billion compared to a loss of $2.25 billion for the full year 2015.
Fourth quarter downstream segment earnings slipped down to $1.33 billion compared to $1.52 billion in the year-ago period.
Full year downstream earnings tumbled to $7.24 billion, down from $9.74 billion in the full year of 2015.
Integrated Gas earnings declined to $907 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to $1.24 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Full year integrated gas earnings fell to $3.7 billion, down from $5.05 billion in earnings for the full year of 2015.
Identified items for the fourth quarter came in at a loss of $763 million compared to a gain of $268 million in the prior-year quarter.
Shell reported full year 2016 identified items came in at a $3.65 billion loss compared to a loss of $7.6 billion for the full year 2015.
Fourth quarter 2016 cash flow from operating activities climbed to to $9.17 billion, up from $5.42 billion in the year-ago period.
Full year cash flow from operating activities declined to $20.6 billion for the 2016, down from $29.81 billion for the full year 2015.
Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said that, for the second consecutive quarter, free cash flow “more than covered our cash dividend.”
Van Beurden said that Shell had $15 billion in completed, announced or in progress divestments in 2016 and is on track to complete its planned $30 billion divestment program.
“Looking ahead, we will further focus the portfolio and strengthen the company’s financial framework in 2017. Our strategy is starting to pay off and in 2017 we will be investing around $25 billion in high quality, resilient projects. I’m confident 2017 will be another year of progress for Shell to become a world-class investment,” van Beurden added.
