LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Oil and gas titan Shell has raised its short-term production forecasts and said it expects an increase in margins as it updated its guidance for the first quarter on Friday.

Integrated gas production is now tipped to come it at 960-1,000 thousand barrels of oil equivalents per day (kboe/d), up from February's guidance of 930-990 kboe/d, while the upstream production guidance range has been narrowed to 1,820-1,920 kboe/d from 1,730-1,930 kboe/d previously.

Meanwhile, increased forecasts for utilisation - the actual usage of refineries and chemical plants as a percentage of the rated capacity - mean that indicative refining margins are expected to be $12 a barrel in the first quarter, up from $10 in the fourth, while indicative chemicals margins should grow to $151/tonne from $125/tonne.

Within the integrated gas division, Shell said that trading and optimisation results are expected to be "strong, but significantly lower than an exceptional Q4'23".

In upstream, it revealed it would take an exploration well write-off of around $600m, mainly as a result of operations in Albania.

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