THE HAGUE, Netherlands,
December 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Royal Dutch Shell plc expects the
potential economic impact of the recently enacted US tax reform
legislation to be favourable to Shell and to its US operations,
primarily due to the future reduction in the US corporate income
tax rate from 35% to 21%.
This change in US tax legislation (effective January 1, 2018) will impact Shell's fourth
quarter 2017 results but the analysis of the actual impact is not
yet complete. Shell intends to determine and announce the actual
impact including any fourth quarter movements, and balance sheet
adjustments, as part of its fourth quarter 2017 results. However,
on the basis of the third quarter 2017 financial statements, Shell
would have incurred an estimated charge to earnings of $2.0 to 2.5 billion primarily driven by a
re-measurement of its deferred tax position to reflect the lower
corporate income tax rate. This charge represents a non-cash
adjustment and will be reflected as an identified item.
Cautionary Note
The companies in which Royal Dutch
Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are
separate legal entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell
group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are
sometimes used for convenience where references are made to
Royal Dutch Shell plc and its
subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our"
are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who
work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful
purpose is served by identifying the particular company or
companies. "Subsidiaries", "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell
companies" as used in this announcement refer to companies over
which Royal Dutch Shell plc either
directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated
arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally
referred to "joint ventures" and "joint operations" respectively.
Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither
control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term
"Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct
and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture,
partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party
interest.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning
the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of
Royal Dutch Shell. All statements
other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to
be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
statements of future expectations that are based on management's
current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results,
performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or
implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include,
among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of
Royal Dutch Shell to market risks
and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs,
estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These
forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and
phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate",
"expect", "goals", "intend", "may", "objectives", "outlook",
"plan", "probably", "project", "risks", "schedule", "seek",
"should", "target", "will" and similar terms and phrases. There are
a number of factors that could affect the future operations of
Royal Dutch Shell and could cause
those results to differ materially from those expressed in the
forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including
(without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and
natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c)
currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e)
reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry
competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks
associated with the identification of suitable potential
acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and
completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in
developing countries and countries subject to international
sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments
including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k)
economic and financial market conditions in various countries and
regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation
and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental
entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and
delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in
trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend
payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All
forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are
expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements
contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk
factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch
Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2016 (available at
http://www.shell.com/investor and http://www.sec.gov). These risk
factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements
contained in this announcement and should be considered by the
reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date
of this announcement, December 27, 2017. Neither Royal Dutch Shell
plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result
of new information, future events or other information. In light of
these risks, results could differ materially from those stated,
implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained
in this announcement.
This announcement may contain references to Shell's website.
These references are for the readers' convenience only. Shell is
not incorporating by reference any information posted on
http://www.shell.com. We may have used certain terms, such as
resources, in this announcement that United States Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in
our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider
closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available
on the SEC website http://www.sec.gov.
LEI number of Royal Dutch Shell
plc: 21380068P1DRHMJ8KU70
Enquiries:
Shell Investor Relations:
International: +31-70-377-4540
North America: +1-832-337-2034
Shell Media Relations:
International: +44(0)20-7934-5550
US: +1-832-337-4355
SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc