Shell's earnings fall sharply in Q2

Shell, a Dutch-British oil and gas company, suffered substantial decline of earnings in the second quarter of 2019, according to its announcement Thursday.

The earnings of Shell declined by 25 percent year on year to 3.59 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter of this year from 4.81 billion dollars.

Shell's gas division in particular posted poor results in the second quarter, with its revenues down 60 percent to 1.3 billion dollars in the second quarter of this year from 3.3 billion dollars in the same period of last year.

The Dutch-British multinational explains the decrease due to, among other things, the lower oil and gas prices this year.

Shell is the last European oil company to announce its figures this quarter. Many other major players in the oil and gas market were also faced with lower than expected earnings. Falling energy prices seem to be an important cause.

The Dutch-British company focuses more on natural gas than most competitors. The company is responsible for a quarter of the total natural gas traded in the world.

Although natural gas has always been a very lucrative source of income for Shell, the international surplus has recently caused a sharp fall in prices and, consequently, a fall in income.