Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.AS) launched a long-anticipated $25 billion share buyback program on Thursday as its debt eased while second quarter profits came in far below forecasts.

The share repurchase program, promised following the $54 acquisition of BG Group in 2016, is the clearest signal yet that the world’s second-largest oil company has recovered from a bruising three-year downturn in the energy sector.

Shell London-listed B shares were trading 2.8 percent lower at 0917 GMT.

Shell will start buying up to $2 billion of A or B shares over the next three months, it said. It plans to repurchase at least $25 billion in the period 2018-2020, subject to further progress with debt reduction and oil price conditions.

The move comes as Shell’s debt burden eased in the quarter.

Its debt ratio versus company capitalization, known as gearing, declined to 23.6 percent from a peak of 29.2 percent in the third quarter of 2016 and from 24.7 percent in the first quarter. Net debt was at around $62 billion, down some $4 billion from the previous quarter.

The Anglo-Dutch company sharply reduced spending, cut thousands of jobs and sold nearly $30 billion of assets in the wake of the 2014 oil market downturn.

In a sign of confidence that it can maintain around $15 billion in annual dividend payments, Shell scrapped in the fourth quarter of 2017 scrip dividend, an austerity policy through which investors can opt to receive dividends in shares or cash.

Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said that the three-year, $30 billion divestment program was a “done deal” and that Shell will divest around $5 billion per year going forward. (Reuters)

Update news