Shares in rival BP, which said it was maintaining its dividend earlier this week, fell 6%. Shell also suspended share buybacks and said it would reduce output by about a quarter, hit by a slump in oil demand due to tight lockdown measures.
Markets across the globe took a breather on Thursday after a recent run of gains that helped the FTSE 100 post its biggest monthly gain since April 2018 with a 4% rise.
The FTSE midcap index, down 2.3% on the day, still recorded its biggest monthly gain since 2010.
Lloyds Banking Group fell 7.3% as its first quarter pretax profit was wiped out by provisions against expected bad loans due to the pandemic.
Miner and trader Glencore dropped 5% after it cut its 2020 capital expenditure and output targets to reflect the impact of the coronavirus on its operations.
Supermarket group Sainsbury's also fell 5% after it warned of a hit from coronavirus-related costs and said it would defer dividend payment decisions until later in the year.
Among the gainers, Reckitt Benckiser rose 3.6% after it forecast performance in 2020 to be better than initially thought and posted a record sales growth in the first quarter due to panic buying ahead of lockdown.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca gained 1.4% after saying that it would team up with the University of Oxford to help develop, produce and distribute a potential COVID-19 vaccine.