FILE-A Shell gas station is shown in Emeryville, California in 2025. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Shell reported higher-than-expected first quarter profits on Thursday as the Iran war sends energy and gas prices soaring.
The oil titan posted earnings of $6.9 billion amplified by gains connected to the ongoing Middle East conflict, prompting it to elevate the dividend by 5%.
Earnings at Shell’s chemicals and products division, including refining and oil trading, were $1.93 billion, eclipsing projections of $1.24 billion and increasing from $450 million in 2025.
RELATED: Here's where gas prices are highest and lowest in the US
Reuters reported that Shell slashed its quarterly share buyback program to $3 billion from $3.5 billion to save money for its balance sheet as a short-term move to convert its assets to cash following war-related energy supply disruptions that caused the company’s debt to soar.
Shell's oil and gas production dropped 4% from the previous quarter, primarily because of outages in Qatar following damage to part of its Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in the Iran conflict that started on Feb. 28.
According to Reuters, Shell expects, in its second quarter, integrated gas production to dip 36% due to the Iran war’s impact, including in Qatar.
Gas prices in the U.S.
Dig deeper:
Thursday’s average price of gas in the U.S. is $4.56 per gallon, up $0.02 from Wednesday, according to AAA.
Citing the Energy Information Administration, the Associated Press reported that the primary ingredient in gas cost is the price of a barrel of crude oil. In the U.S., oil prices represented about 51% of the price of a gallon of gasoline in 2025.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press, and AAA. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.