Shell Boosts Earnings Amid Iran War-Driven Oil Price Volatility

Shell has reported a significant surge in half-year earnings, thanks to its best quarterly performance in four years. The company's underlying earnings jumped by 70% to $16.75 billion (£12.55 billion) for the six months ended June. This was driven by a forecast-beating result of $9.84 billion (£7.37 billion) in the second quarter, which more than doubled the $4.26 billion (£3.19 billion) posted a year earlier.

The company's oil trading division has been a major contributor to this success, capitalizing on the highly volatile cost of crude due to the Iran war. The price of Brent crude surged as high as $120 a barrel at one stage before dropping back down to pre-war levels and then rising again past $90 this week amid negotiations between the US and Iran.

However, Shell's gas production fell by 31% due to an Iranian attack on its Qatar gas-to-liquids plant. The company is expected to take a year to repair the damaged Pearl GTL site in Qatar and get it back up and running.