LONDON: British energy giant Shell on Thursday said its net profit more than halved to $19.4 billion last year as oil and gas prices weakened.

Profit after tax slumped 54 percent after reaching an all-time high of $42.3 billion in 2022 when energy producer Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent prices of fossil fuels soaring.

"Full-year 2023 income... reflected lower realized oil and gas prices, lower volumes and lower refining margins," Shell added in the earnings release.

It was slammed also by impairment and other accounting charges totaling $7.5 billion.

Revenue dived almost a fifth to $316.6 billion.

Despite the declines, Shell said it was returning $3.5 billion to shareholders and ramping up its fourth-quarter dividend.

'Obscene profits'

"As we enter 2024, we are continuing to simplify our organization with a focus on delivering more value with less emissions," Chief Executive Wael Sawan said in the earnings statement.

Environmentalists were not convinced, however, with Greenpeace activists dressed as Shell board members protesting outside the company's London headquarters on Thursday.

"Shell is posting yet more obscene profits from climate-wrecking fossil fuels," said Greenpeace campaigner Maja Darlington.

"While customers struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, Shell shovels over billions to shareholders and drills for yet more oil and gas. Climate disasters are multiplying and hitting hardest those who have done the least to cause the crisis."

Sawan, former head of renewable energy at Shell, plans in March to update the company's strategy on transitioning to cleaner fuels.

"What you should expect coming in March is real clarity on what are the areas that we will continue to go forward with, not a whole bunch of new targets," Sawan told a conference call listened to by analysts and media.

The fossil fuels giant insists that its overall goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 remains intact.

This, as the energy sector still looks to profit from the relatively high cost of oil and gas.

Prices are currently benefiting from concerns that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spread into a broader conflict in the crude-rich Middle East.

The group's share price closed up 2.41 percent at 25.06 pounds on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which ended slightly down overall.

Shell on Thursday added that net profit tumbled 93 percent to $474 million in the fourth quarter on large impairments, particularly linked to chemical assets in Singapore.

Net profit excluding exceptional items sank nearly a third to $28.3 billion last year but this beat market expectations.

"A wavering oil price was inevitably the main culprit for the reduced full-year result," noted Richard Hunter, head of markets at trading firm Interactive Investor.

"From a broader perspective, and despite the current geopolitical tensions which have provided a base for the oil price, the uncertain economic environment globally has left the demand situation unclear."

Hunter added: "The industry is the focus of some debate from an environmental perspective, with the ever-increasing possibility that some investors will be unwilling or unable to invest in the sector on ethical grounds."

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