British energy company Shell reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter profit amid a rise in oil prices due to the U.S.-Iran conflict. The oil giant posted adjusted earnings of $6.92 billion for the first three months of the year, beating analyst expectations of $6.1 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus. A different company-provided analyst had put Shell’s expected first-quarter profit at $6.36 billion.
“Shell delivered strong results enabled by our relentless focus on operational performance in a quarter marked by unprecedented disruption in global energy markets,” Shell CEO Wael Sawan said in a statement.
According to reports, the profits are driven by oil traders capitalizing on volatile markets. Within the chemicals and products segment, where Shell’s trading desk sits, results swung from a $66 million loss in the prior quarter to a $1.925 billion profit, according to Marketscreener. The upstream segment also benefited, with realized liquids prices climbing to $72 per barrel from $59 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2025, the company said.
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Crude prices have surged around 40% since Feb. 28, when the fighting started, according to CNBC. The war had disrupted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a situation which the International Energy Agency has called the gravest threat to global energy security ever recorded.
The war had also hurt Shell’s production. Qatar-based assets, among them the Pearl gas-to-liquids facility, have been damaged or taken offline, cutting roughly 10% from the company’s total output.
A missile strike in March put one of Pearl’s two processing trains out of action; restoring it to service is projected to require approximately twelve months. CFO Sinead Gorman indicated that even after the Strait of Hormuz becomes safe for ships to transit, it would still be several weeks before Qatar output flows again, according to Bloomberg.
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“Shell’s Q1 results are better than expectations, both market expectations and my own expectations,” Maurizio Carulli, equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot Investment Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.
“Net debt is probably the only minor negative because it has increased from $45 [billion] to $46 billion at the end of the past year to $52.6 billion this quarter. This is, however, mainly because of the working capital effect, when you have rising oil prices, there is a negative effect in terms of the value of inventories,” he added.
Meanwhile, the global stock markets surged to record highs on Wednesday while oil prices fell sharply, as investors reacted to signs of a potential agreement between the United States and Iran to ease tensions in the Gulf.