Shell’s Q3 lube profit mixed

Shell saw profit from its lubricants unit surge in the third quarter from year-earlier levels but fall from the second quarter of the year.

The unit’s adjusted earnings of $226mn in the three months to end-September more than doubled from $94mn during the same period a year earlier.

Profit was down from more than $290mn in the first and in the second quarters of the year.

The lower profit partly reflected an unusually large taxation charge in the third quarter.

The unit's adjusted earnings of $425mn before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was down 3pc from $436mn during the previous three months.

The drop in EBITDA from the second quarter of the year mirrored a 3pc fall in sales during the same period.

Shell’s lubricants sales volume of 82,000 b/d (7.54mn bl) in the third quarter edged down from 83,000 b/d (7.55mn bl) during the previous three months and from 85,000 b/d in the first quarter of the year.

Rival lube blenders Castrol and Fuchs SE saw third-quarter profit rise from year-earlier levels and from the previous quarter.