London Shell (LON:RDSa) said on Thursday that a sharp drop in refining margins and “significantly” lower earnings from natural gas trading will hurt its profits in the third quarter.
Indicative refining margins fell to $15 per barrel in the quarter, from $28 per barrel in the previous three months, Shell said in an update before its earnings report on October 27.
Indicative margins for chemicals went from being positive $86 per tonne in the second quarter to being negative $27 per tonne in the third quarter. This was because demand for plastics went down.
Related: Shell raises the value of its oil and gas assets by up to $4.5 billion.
