Adjusted net income for the second quarter was $4.26 billion, the London-based company said in a statement on Thursday, July 31, compared with $6.29 billion a year earlier. That beat the average analyst estimate of $3.74 billion. Shell continued its pace of buying back $3.5 billion of shares in the quarter.
Shell’s fabled in-house trading business is often one of its biggest profit boosters, and Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan said in March that its traders haven’t lost money in a single quarter over the past decade.But while commodity traders usually thrive on volatility, a number of energy executives have complained in recent weeks that the erratic nature of the recent price swings has made them harder to trade on. Shell warned earlier this month that earnings from both oil and gas trading in the quarter were “significantly lower” than the previous three months.
Net debt rose to $43.2 billion from $41.5 billion in the first quarter.
Sawan has spent the past two years seeking to cut costs, improve reliability and shed underperforming assets in an effort to close a valuation gap with Shell’s US rivals. The “sprint” has begun to pay off, as the company has outperformed its Big Oil peers so far in 2025. Analysts have highlighted Shell’s improved balance sheet, and the company said in May that it had the financial strength to keep buying back more than $3 billion of shares each quarter even if crude plunged as low as $50 a barrel — far below current levels.
Shell’s results come just a month after the company said it had no intention of making an offer for UK competitor BP Plc, in response to a media report. The announcement squashed a long period of speculation and will tie its hands for the next six months under UK takeover rules.
First Published: Jul 31, 2025 2:06 PM IS
