Shell Reports Nearly $7 Billion Profit Amid 'Unprecedented Disruption'

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/business/shell-profit-oil-iran-war.html

Shell Reports Nearly $7 Billion Profit Amid ‘Unprecedented Disruption’
The oil giant’s earnings in the first three months of the year were more than double the previous quarter’s and follow similarly strong results of European rivals.
By Gregory Schmidt
May 7, 2026 Updated 9:50 a.m. ET

The company, based in London, said Thursday that its adjusted profit soared 24 percent, to $6.92 billion, in the first three months of the year from the same time last year, higher than analysts expected. Shell’s first-quarter profit was more than twice what the company earned in the previous quarter, a time of seasonally lower activity.

Shell is not the only major European oil producer to report increased profits. In April, Britain’s BP said it more than doubled its profit in the first quarter, to $3.2 billion, from the previous quarter, driven by superior oil trading and elevated oil prices. And the French oil company TotalEnergies, which reported quarterly net income of $5.4 billion, said it would raise its dividend and double its share buybacks.

The strong returns have renewed calls for a windfall tax on oil profits, similar to the response when oil companies benefited from higher energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

On Friday, Exxon Mobil reported $4.2 billion in first-quarter earnings, down 46 percent from a year earlier primarily because of accounting reason, while Chevron said that its quarterly profit slid to $2.2 billion, a 37 percent drop from a year earlier. Both companies attributed the decline to paper losses that would be unwound in the coming months. Unlike Shell’s results, these were not adjusted for one-off items.

Exxon and Chevron, the two largest American oil producers, said on Friday that they are not planning to further increase oil drilling to take advantage of higher gas prices.

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[Tim S]

1. So only enough money to pay for 7 days of war with Iran? (sarcasm)