“We’re running out of words to describe the obscenity of these numbers.”
The London-headquartered oil giant Shell announced Thursday that its net earnings more than doubled during the second quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2025. The escalation in energy costs was driven by the conflict in Iran, burdening consumers both in the United Kingdom and worldwide.
“These gains have been achieved amid an energy crisis that has left households nationwide grappling with soaring energy bills and costly fuel prices,” stated Danny Gross, an energy advocate at Friends of the Earth UK. “This highlights the critical need to break free from our reliance on expensive oil and gas.”
Between April and June, Shell recorded profits of $9.84 billion, marking its most successful quarter in four years. Wael Sawan, Shell’s CEO, noted that the company’s “operational performance delivered powerful results throughout yet another quarter marked by major disturbances in global energy markets as we endeavored to supply essential energy and products to our customers.”
Following the release of the second-quarter figures, Shell announced an additional $3 billion in stock buybacks for shareholders. This announcement came as the UK endured an intense heatwave. UK officials reported Thursday that there were 2,877 deaths linked to heat in May and June—forecasting the highest heat-related fatality rate ever recorded in the country.
“This is obscene,” Zack Polanski, leader of the UK Green Party, commented on social media regarding Shell’s profit report.
Polanski added, “While the cost of living crisis spirals upwards, with prices of food and fuel soaring, global oil and gas firms’ profits continue to swell.”
Rudy Schulkind, a political campaigner for Greenpeace UK, remarked “we’re running out of words to describe the obscenity of these numbers.”
An analysis published last month by environmental organization 350.org estimated that more than $700 billion “will be diverted from businesses and households to the oil and gas sector” by the close of the year, driven by price hikes linked to the war initiated by the US and Israel late last February.
Oxfam forecasted earlier this week that the six largest fossil fuel companies worldwide—including Shell—would see their collective profits double in the second quarter of 2026. The humanitarian organization further revealed that “the emissions from BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies contributed to approximately one in four heatwaves recorded worldwide from 2000 to 2023—events that would have been nearly impossible if not for human-caused climate change.”
Original article: www.commondreams.org
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