Shell has warned the value of its oil and gas assets may fall by $22bn (£16bn) in 2020 after shaving up to $4.5bn from its portfolio in the final quarter of the year. The oil company ended any hopes for a brighter end to 2020 for shareholders with the announcement of another write-down. Shell blamed the move on the weaker outlook for global oil demand owing to coronavirus restrictions on travel and poor economic growth. It also said the fourth-quarter results for its oil products division, due in early February, would be significantly lower compared with the third quarter. The Anglo-Dutch oil firm’s latest write-downs could bring its total impairments to $22bn for 2020, which has been one of the worst years for big oil companies on record owing to the sharp drop in demand for crude and fuels. Shell’s FTSE 100-listed shares traded 6% lower on Monday at £12.98, down from highs of more than £23 in the first week of the year. The oil market price also tumbled by 4%, or $3 a barrel, to $50.26 a barrel as fears over the impact of a new strain of the coronavirus on oil demand took hold of global markets. The slump brought an end to the steady rise in oil markets in recent weeks, which helped drive prices back above $50 last week for the first time since March. Biraj Borkhataria, an analyst at RBC Capital, said Shell’s profit warning was “disappointing, particularly in the context of the strong run Shell has had in recent weeks”. The write-down includes Shell’s Appomattox oil and gas project in the Gulf of Mexico, which began production in April last year and plans to pump the equivalent of 175,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak. Borkhataria said the partial impairment on Appomattox was particularly disappointing for Shell because it was one of its largest producing deepwater assets. Shell plans to use its deepwater oil and gas assets as a “cash engine” to generate free cashflow that can be reinvested in renewable energy. The company intends to invest by to $2bn a year on “new energies” such as offshore windfarms, electric vehicles and electric car charging. In total it will spend $20bn this year, after cutting its planned capital expenditure from $25bn in March. Shell revealed a modest return to profit in the third quarter after reporting better than expected financial results, and promised investors a “new era of dividend growth” as it switches its focus from fossil fuels to clean energy alternatives. The results were a rare bright spot for Shell shareholders in 2020 after the company reported an $18bn loss for the second quarter of the year, announced it would cut 9,000 roles and slashed the dividend for the first time since the second world war. Shell, once the FTSE 100’s biggest dividend payer, cut its dividend from 47 cents to 16 cents a share in April because of the “crisis of uncertainty” facing oil companies during the pandemic. The company also revised down its outlook for oil market prices to average about $35 a barrel in 2020, and $40 next year, before rising to an average of $50 by 2022. The forecasts were sharply below the prices expected by Shell only three months ago, which averaged about $60 a barrel for each year to 2022. The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on big oil companies this year by causing one of the fastest drops in demand in history. In response ministers from the world’s largest oil-producing countries agreed to cut their production to prevent a market collapse.