LONDON (AFP) – British energy giant Shell said yesterday that quarterly profit rocketed more than five-fold to USD18 billion on elevated commodity prices, and rewarded shareholders with another bumper stock buyback.
The surge in net profit in the three months to June was partially attributable to a reversal of USD4.3 billion in impairments after the company raised its medium and long-term forecasts for gas and oil prices.
“In the second quarter of 2022, we delivered strong financial results,” said chief executive Ben van Beurden in video comments published alongside the results statement.
The London-listed energy major also announced another USD6-billion share buyback programme, having already returned USD8.5 billion to shareholders earlier this year.
But Van Beurden also warned that “with volatile energy markets, economic turbulence and the ongoing need for action to tackle climate change, 2022 continues to present challenges to consumers, to government, and to companies”.
Shell had rebounded into a USD3.4-billion profit in second quarter of 2021 from a USD18.1-billion loss in the same period of 2020 when it took a massive impairment charge due to the COVID-ravaged oil market.
However, oil and gas prices have surged this year owing to the Ukraine war and after countries lifted pandemic lockdowns.
Gas prices, which sky-rocketed in March after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, are soaring once more this week after Moscow curbed crucial deliveries to Europe in recent days.
The Ukraine war has meanwhile sparked an exodus of Western energy companies from Russia, including Shell and British rival BP.
Earlier this year, Shell logged a first-quarter profit of USD7.1 billion, despite taking a USD3.9-billion charge linked to its withdrawal from Russian activities.
