Shell's best profit in 3 years marred by surprise cash-flow drop

London

THE oil-price rally proved to be a double-edged sword for Royal Dutch Shell plc as improved exploration and production lifted profit to a three-year high while refining and trading fell short of expectations.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, has risen to a three-year high. That helped Europe's largest energy company to post an adjusted profit of US$4.3 billion last quarter, the highest since 2014 when oil was near US$100 a barrel. While the bottom line was better than expected, cash flow was the weakest since 2016.