Shell's second-quarter adjusted earnings more than doubled to $9.84 billion as refinery utilisation hit a record

Shell said on Thursday, 30 July 2026, that its adjusted earnings for the second quarter of 2026 reached $9.84 billion, more than double the $4.26 billion recorded in the same period last year and above analyst estimates in the $8.8 billion to $8.9 billion range.

Shell said the jump reflected higher realised oil and gas prices, higher crude, fuel and LNG trading profits, surging chemicals margins and record refinery utilisation. The company's refinery utilisation was 102 percent from April to June, against 99 percent in the first quarter of 2026, mainly because of lower planned and unplanned maintenance. Its global indicative refining margin rose from $17 to $24 per barrel, and its global indicative chemical margin doubled from $139 to $270 per tonne.

The results came despite lower LNG volumes caused by the impact of the West Asia conflict on production in Qatar. Shell's free cash flow reached $17.524 billion in the second quarter, against $6.531 billion in the same quarter of 2025. The company also announced $3 billion in share buybacks for the third quarter, the nineteenth consecutive quarter in which it has announced at least $3 billion of repurchases. Chief Executive Wael Sawan said the company's operational performance delivered very strong results during another quarter of severe disruption in global energy markets. Other large European majors including Eni, TotalEnergies and Equinor also saw profits jump from a year earlier.