LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Shell on Thursday

reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of $7.7 billion,

sharply beating expectations, on the back of strong oil trading

and higher refining margins.

The oil major also announced it will repurchase a further

$3.5 billion of its shares over the next three months, at a

similar rate to the previous quarter. Its dividend remained

unchanged.

"Shell delivered another quarter of strong operational and

financial performance, demonstrating our continued focus on

delivering more value with less emissions," CEO Wael Sawan said

in a statement.

Analysts had expected first-quarter adjusted earnings of

$6.46 billion, against $9.65 billion a year earlier.

The company had posted $7.3 billion in the fourth quarter of

2023, boosted by strong LNG trading results.

Shell shares have gained about 14% this year, buoyed by

Sawan's efforts to cut costs and focus the company on its most

profitable oprations.

Rivals Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), Chevron ( CVX ) and

TotalEnergies last week reported a drop in profits

from a year earlier, reflecting a sharp downturn in natural gas

prices after a warmer than usual Northern Hemisphere winter cut

demand and pushed up inventories.

WEAKER LNG

Shell's chemicals and products divisions, which include

refining and oil trading, registered a more than threefold rise

in adjusted earnings from the previous quarter to $2.8 billion,

driven by strong gains from trading and refining.

The results were offset by weaker results from its flagship

liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading business compared with the

previous quarter as well as unfavourable tax movements, Shell

said.

Shell's LNG production rose in the quarter by 7% from the

previous three months to 7.58 million metric tons while sales

dropped by 7% to 16.87 million tons.

The company's overall oil and gas production rose by 3% in

the quarter to 2.91 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.