Shell has revealed that profits slid over the first half after a drop in trading profits and lower oil and gas prices.
The oil major told shareholders that adjusted earnings, or net profits, dropped by 30% to 9.84 billion US dollars (£7.4 billion) over the half-year, compared with a year earlier.
Nevertheless, profits in the second quarter of the year were ahead of analyst expectations.
Shell added that income attributable to shareholders was 23% lower, due to the effect of “lower trading and optimisation margin” and decreasing energy prices.
The firm said it was also impacted by a charge of 509 million dollars (£383 million) related to the UK energy profits levy.
Wael Sawan, chief executive of Shell, said: “Shell generated robust cash flows reflecting strong operational performance in a less favourable macro environment.
“We continued to deliver on our strategy by enhancing our deep-water portfolio in Nigeria and Brazil, and achieved a key milestone by shipping the first cargo from LNG (liquified natural gas) Canada.
“Our continued focus on performance, discipline and simplification helped deliver 3.9 billion dollars (£2.9 billion) of structural cost reductions since 2022, with the majority delivered through non-portfolio actions.
“This focus enables us to commence another 3.5 billion dollars (£2.6 billion) of buybacks for the next three months, the 15th consecutive quarter of at least 3 billion dollars in buybacks.”
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