Shell’s adjusted net income surged to $9.84 billion in the second quarter, more than doubling the $4.26 billion recorded a year earlier and comfortably beating the $8.92 billion consensus forecast of analysts compiled by Vara Research. The result, the company’s strongest since the energy crisis of 2022, was driven by the upheaval in global energy markets triggered by the US-Israeli war with Iran. The conflict closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally passes, sending crude prices from around $73 a barrel to peaks above $120 and generating violent price swings that benefited trading desks.

The closure delivered a windfall to Shell’s traders and refiners, more than offsetting the loss of about 10 percent of the group’s total production because of damage to its Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar and a 30 percent stake in a QatarEnergy LNG unit. The integrated gas division, which houses the world’s largest LNG trading operation, posted a profit of $2.7 billion, 55 percent higher than a year earlier, even though gas production volumes fell 31 percent quarter-on-quarter. Shell ran its refineries at a utilisation rate of 102 percent, the highest since its methodology changed in 2022, while jet fuel output rose 20 percent year-on-year. Chemicals margins lifted that division’s profit to its best level since the third quarter of 2021.

Chief executive Wael Sawan said the “operational performance enabled very strong results during another quarter of severe disruption in global energy markets”. The Brent crude benchmark has since retreated below $100 a barrel on speculation the Strait could reopen, but refined fuel prices remain elevated: in Germany drivers still pay more than €2 per litre, about €17-21 more for a 50-litre fill than before the war, according to motorists’ association ADAC. Shell generated $21.4 billion in operating cash flow and reduced net debt from $52.6 billion at the end of the first quarter to $42 billion.

The company maintained its $3 billion quarterly share buyback, the nineteenth consecutive quarter of at least that amount, and its market capitalisation has risen 23.2 percent since the start of 2026. While the Qatar Pearl plant, which was hit in March, is expected to need about a year of repairs, production from Canada, Nigeria and Australia is helping to compensate for the shortfall. The milestone for energy markets remains the eventual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the timing of which remains uncertain.