July 7 Reuters Energy giant Shell expects secondquarter gas trading results to be significantly lower than in the previous quarter, it said on Friday.

In an update ahead of secondquarter results on July 27, the world39;s biggest liquefied natural gas LNG trader also flagged 3 billion in writedowns for the quarter, primarily driven by a 1 increase in the discount rate used for impairment testing.

It added that trading performance in its chemicals and products business was also expected be lower than in the first quarter, with the indicative refining margin forecast to drop to 9 a barrel from 15 a barrel.

U.S. rival Exxon also guided for lower refining margins this week.

Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and David Goodman

Source Reuters