Shell (SHEL:NYSE) more than doubled its second-quarter earnings from a year earlier, as higher oil and gas prices, record refinery utilization, and strong trading boosted profits to above analyst expectations.
Shell on Thursday reported adjusted earnings of $9.84 billion for the second quarter, more than double the $4.26 billion for the same period last year, and smashing analyst estimates of $8.8-$8.9 billion.
The higher adjusted earnings reflected a jump in realized oil and gas prices, higher crude, fuel, and LNG trading profits, surging chemicals margins, and record refinery utilization, Shell said.
Refinery utilization was 102% in April to June, compared with 99% in the first quarter of 2026, mainly due to lower planned and unplanned maintenance activities. Strong refining and chemical margins also boosted Shell’s earnings in the past quarter.
Shell’s global indicative refining margin rose to $24 from $17 per barrel in the first quarter, while the global indicative chemical margin doubled to $270 per ton, from $139 per ton.
The supermajor’s profits turned out better than expected despite the lower LNG volumes due to the impact of the Middle East conflict on production in Qatar.
Shell had already guided earlier this month that it would book significantly higher oil and LNG trading results for the second quarter as the Iran war drove extreme volatility in energy commodity markets.
Free cash flow jumped to $17.524 billion for the second quarter, up from $6.531 billion for the same quarter of 2025.
Shell also announced $3 billion in share buybacks to be completed in the third quarter, the 19th quarter in a row of announcing at least $3 billion of share repurchases.
“Shell’s operational performance enabled very strong results during another quarter of severe disruption in global energy markets, as we worked hard to provide critical energy supplies and products to our customers,” CEO Wael Sawan commented.
Other European majors, including Eni, TotalEnergies and Equinor, also saw their profits jump from a year earlier as oil and gas prices surged during the Middle East crisis and delivered windfall earnings to the biggest energy firms.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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