At the time of writing, the index had dipped slightly but was still trading 0.4% higher from the previous close at 7,263.
Royal Dutch Shell followed in the footsteps of the oil majors that reported before it – BP, Exxon and Chevron – delivering higher earnings off the back of the recovering oil price.
The firm’s current cost of supplies earnings measure, excluding identified items, rose 136% over the period to $3.86bn.
Upstream activities, or oil and gas production, ramped up by 2% to 3.752m barrels of oil per day.
Earnings from downstream activities, like refining, marketing and chemicals, also saw a marked improvement, jumping 52% to $2.6bn.
The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company’s quarterly update received a positive reception from markets, hiking its share price up 3% to 2121.5p.
Chief executive officer Ben van Beurden stated that the first quarter of 2017 had been a “strong quarter for Shell,” yielding free cash flow of $5.2bn, allowing the energy titan to reduce its debt and cover its cash dividend for the third consecutive quarter.
The high levels of debt assumed by the UK’s oil behemoths has remained a key talking point, prompting many to remain bearish on the sector’s prospects.
