Shell profits in oil crisis as the BBC News website reports that Shell has become the latest energy giant to report a jump in profits following the sharp increase in oil prices since the beginning of the Iran war. It reported profits of $6.92bn (£5.1bn) for the first three months of the year, higher than analysts had expected increasing from $5.58bn in the same period in 2025.
The price of oil has soared since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran as the key Strait of Hormuz, which usually carries about 20% of the global supplies of oil and liquid natural gas (LNG), has been effectively closed apart from a few ships that have managed to escape the blockades.
This follows the news last week that last week, rival oil giant BP announced that its profits for the first three months of the year had more than doubled.
Following disruption to supplies from the Middle East, Shell announced it was buying Canadian shale producer ARC Resources for $16.4bn, which Sawan said would “deliver value for decades to come”. Danny Gross, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, added: “The answer is clear – strengthen the windfall tax on these indefensible profits and break our dependence on fossil fuels by powering our economy with home-grown renewables.”
According to the BBC, energy firms operating in the UK are subject to a windfall tax, called the Energy Profits Levy, that was introduced in 2022 as a response to soaring profits following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Labour extended the life of the tax to March 2030. However, the levy only applies to profits made from extracting oil and gas in the UK, whereas the bulk of energy giants’ earnings are made overseas. The UK accounts for less than 5% of Shell’s global oil and gas production.
Strange as it may seem, on Thursday (7 May) shares in BP were down by 2.6% while Shell dropped by 2.9% after oil prices fell below $100 a barrel on hopes that the Strait of Hormuz could be re-opened. That remains to be seen!