Shell profit nearly doubles, buyback lifted to $5 billion

Shell ↗ 0.95% reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $10.81 billion on Thursday, October 29, nearly double the $5.43 billion it earned a year earlier and its strongest result since the second quarter of 2022, CNBC reported. Record refining margins drove the gain as the war in the Middle East and strikes on Russian refineries squeezed global fuel supplies. Analysts had expected $9.92 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.cnbc.com

The company also raised its quarterly share buyback to $5 billion from $3 billion. It expects to finish the new programme by its fourth-quarter results announcement, according to Shell's results statement. Shell's shares rose to an all-time high in morning trade in London and led gains on the FTSE 100.thespec.com+2

Record refining margins

Shell's indicative refining margin reached $42 a barrel, well above the previous record of $28.04 set in the second quarter of 2022. That was up from $24 in the second quarter of 2026. Compared with the previous quarter, Shell said earnings benefited from higher refining margins, higher realised LNG prices and higher Integrated Gas volumes. Lower crude and oil products trading results, higher well write-offs and lower realised liquids prices partly offset those gains. Adjusted earnings in the chemicals and products unit, which includes oil trading, rose to $3.86 billion from $550 million a year earlier.lse.co.uk+3

Cash flow from operations was $21 billion. Net debt fell to $39.7 billion from $41.8 billion at the end of the second quarter, helped by free cash flow of $16.3 billion. Shell also lowered its 2026 capital spending outlook to $23 billion to $25 billion. Chief Executive Wael Sawan credited "relentless focus on operational performance" in "a quarter with continued severe disruption to the global energy system".hexham-courant.co.uk+2

War-driven energy squeeze

Exports from Gulf countries have been cut by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude traded around $114 a barrel on Thursday, compared with about $65 a year earlier. Rival TotalEnergies ↗ 1.38% more than doubled its adjusted net income to $9.1 billion in results also published Thursday.cnbc.com

Campaigners criticised the results as households struggle with rising fuel costs. "There is no version of these figures which look even remotely fair," said Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. "Shell earns more in sixty seconds than most people in this country manage in twelve months".hexham-courant.co.uk