Lower profits due to volatile market

Shell sees Q2 profit fall but performs ‘above expectations’

Published on 2025-07-31 at 10:06

Shells winst was lager dan vorig jaar maar hoger dan verwachting.

Oil group Shell posted a profit of $4.3 billion (€3.8 billion) in the second quarter of this year, down from $6.3 billion in the second quarter of 2024.Despite this, the result was above expectations, the company reported.

Analysts were already counting on a sharp drop in profits. They expected a result of just over $3.7 billion. Net profit came in at $3.6 billion, down from $3.5 billion in the second quarter of 2024 and $4.8 billion in the first quarter of 2025.

In the first three months of the year, Shell’s results were also under pressure, but the group also performed better than expected. Like other oil and gas companies, Shell is facing sharply lower crude oil prices.

In April and May, fuel prices dipped due to concerns about US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs, fears of a weakening global economy and production increases by oil cartel OPEC+. In June, prices shot up hard due to the war between Israel and Iran and US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. After a truce, prices dropped sharply again.

Despite the drop in profits, the oil and gas group will buy back $3.5 billion worth of its own shares in the current quarter. Shell did the same in the previous quarter.

Top executive Wael Sawan spoke of “strong operational performance in a less favourable macroeconomic environment”. Regarding acquisitions, Sawan said Thursday in an interview with business channel CNBC that Shell prefers to focus on its own business and that right now “nothing is cheap”. He also said he preferred to spend money on share buybacks. Shell recently denied having takeover talks with industry peer BP.

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This article was automatically translated from the Dutch language original to English (British).

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