Shell has lowered its liquified natural gas (LNG) production volume to between 6.4 and 6.8 million tonnes (MT) in the first quarter of its 2025 financial year.

This comes after the oil and gas giant recorded LNG production of 7.1MT in the final quarter of 2024.

Shell said in its latest trading update that the drop "reflects weather impact and unplanned maintenance in Australia".

Furthermore, the firm has reduced its integrated gas production from a range of 930 to 990 thousand barrels of oils equivalent per day (kboe/d) to a range of 910 to 950 kboe/d.

Shell stated that its trading and optimisation results are expected to be "in line" with the final quarter of 2024, despite a "higher impact from expiring hedge contracts" compared to the previous quarter.

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, said that with Shell’s "key strengths" being in the LNG market, this update would "disappoint shareholders".

He concluded: "Under chief executive Wael Sawan the company has been looking to up its game to catch up with its US peers and Shell has done better at keeping pace than its UK-listed peer BP.

"Sawan has focused on stripping out costs, keeping a lid on spending and reducing net debt. He also scaled back green investments and insisted that anything in this arena had to stand up as a viable investment on its own merits.

"However, the danger is that anything investors take from today’s update and Shell’s previous progress could be overtaken by events by the time it puts its first-quarter numbers out in full at the beginning of May.

"If oil and gas prices remain under pressure then efforts to improve financial performance could prove as forlorn as trying to make a souffle on a camping stove in the middle of a storm."

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