The second quarter’s gas trading results are anticipated to be “significantly lower” quarter over quarter, but in line with the second quarters of the previous two years, according to Shell, the largest trader of liquefied natural gas in the world.

Because of maintenance in a major supplier, Norway, where Shell unexpectedly extended an outage at its Nyhamna processing plant, wholesale petrol prices fluctuated from April to June.

The reduced gas trading performance was attributed by Shell to “seasonality and fewer optimisation opportunities”.

The business doesn’t give specific numbers for its petrol trading outcomes or indicate what percentage of its business it represents.

The benchmark front-month Dutch gas contract, which includes August, last traded at 32.90 euros per megawatt hour, down from above 100 euros last year and 70 euros at the beginning of this year.

At 1234 GMT, Shell shares were up about 0.5%, trailing the 0.7% gain experienced by the European oil and gas index.

“Shell’s trading update included a number of operational indicators which were broadly in line with our forecasts,” said RBC equity analyst Biraj Borkhataria in a note.

“Weaker trading across oil and gas which should be expected by the market given lower gas prices and the seasonality of Shell’s LNG portfolio.”

Due to decreasing seasonal demand, Shell’s trade normally makes less money in the second quarter.

The company also stated that it anticipated poorer trade results in its chemicals and products sector than it did in the first quarter, with an indicative refining margin estimated to fall from $15 per barrel to $9 per barrel.

Exxon, a competitor in the United States, also provided guidance this week for reduced refining profits.

Shell also announced $3 billion in writedowns for the quarter in an update prior to the release of second-quarter results on July 27. This was mostly due to an increase of 1% in the discount rate used for impairment tests.

According to a spokeswoman, this is a change in accounting to reflect a higher interest rate environment.

(Adapted from BNNBloomberg.ca)