Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday cut its dividend for the first time since the 1940s after a first -quarter loss – and warned virus - ravaged oil prices will take time to fully recover. The Anglo -Dutch group sank into a $24-million ( $29. 5-million) net loss in the three months to March – when oil went into freefall on tumbling demand and a price war between producers Saudi Arabia and Russia .
That contrasted sharply with profit after tax of $6. 0 billion in the same period a year earlier , the London- listed giant added in a statement.

Earnings on a current cost - of -supplies basis – stripping out changes to the value of oil and gas inventories – sank 46 percent to $2. 9 billion in the reporting period , Shell said. The energy titan , which axed spending last month in response to the oil crash , said it had slashed its shareholder dividend by 65 percent to 16 cents per share, from 47 cents in the fourth quarter.

“As a result of COVID -19, there is significant uncertainty in the expected macroeconomic conditions with an expected negative impact on demand for oil , gas and other related products, ” Shell said. “ Furthermore, ex-global developments and uncertainty in oil supply have caused further volatility in commodity markets. ”

It warned that the current pandemic would spark a difficult second quarter — with no price bounce back in prospect. “It would be too naive at this particular time to say : we know what is happening , this is just another downturn, things will bounce back , and we will get to where we were before, ” van Beurden told Bloomberg TV. “I think that would be an inappropriate conclusion to draw at this particular time.”