KEY POINTS
- Shell’s net profit climbed 19 percent year-on-year to $5.69 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
- CEO Wael Sawan credited operational discipline against the backdrop of Middle East war volatility in energy markets.
- The result lifts Shell ahead of peers in a quarter shaped by sharp swings in oil and gas prices.
Wael Sawan’s Shell on Thursday posted a 19 percent jump in first-quarter net profit, riding a war-driven rally in oil and gas prices to $5.69 billion as the British energy giant outpaced expectations across its trading and upstream divisions.
Profit after tax climbed from $4.78 billion in the first quarter of 2025, Shell said in an earnings statement, with the chief executive crediting operational performance amid what he described as “unprecedented disruption in global energy markets.”
Now Sawan, who has steered Shell through a portfolio reset since taking over in January 2023, has another quarter of double-digit profit growth to point to as he defends his strategy of trimming low-margin businesses and concentrating on cash-generative oil, gas and trading.
War premium lifts crude
Specifically, the Middle East conflict has injected a sustained risk premium into Brent and natural gas markets, lifting upstream margins across the sector. Indeed, the volatility has rewarded integrated majors with strong trading desks, and Shell’s London-based traders are widely seen as the most agile in the business.
“Shell delivered strong results enabled by our relentless focus on operational performance in a quarter marked by unprecedented disruption in global energy markets,” Sawan said.
Moreover, the result extends a streak of robust quarterly numbers under Sawan’s tenure, even as critics question the long-term resilience of fossil-fuel earnings against the energy transition.
Sawan’s strategy paying off
Today, Shell sits firmly among the highest-margin producers in the supermajor pack, helped by lower costs, disciplined capital spending and a renewed focus on shareholder returns. Additionally, the company has continued buying back shares and lifting dividends through the cycle.
Sawan inherited a balance sheet still recovering from the pandemic-era oil crash. However, his decision to scale back exposure to renewables, retail power and some refining assets has freed capital for higher-return projects, particularly in liquefied natural gas where Shell holds a leading global position.
Meanwhile, peers including BP, ExxonMobil and Chevron will report their own quarterly numbers across the next two weeks. Together, the supermajors stand to be the biggest beneficiaries of the war premium, even as governments wrestle with consumer fuel inflation.
Volatility cuts both ways
Furthermore, Sawan acknowledged that the same volatility lifting Shell’s earnings carries downside risk if the Middle East situation cools or supply chains stabilize quickly. The company has not flagged any change to its capital allocation framework, suggesting management views the current pricing environment as sustainable enough to maintain pace.
Whether the rally holds will depend on the trajectory of the conflict, OPEC+ output decisions and demand resilience across China and Europe. Yet for now, Shell’s Q1 print gives Sawan room to push his message: the company is leaner, sharper and built to convert macro shocks into shareholder cash.
The earnings statement did not detail divisional breakdowns in the press summary, but the headline beat is likely to feed into a stronger reception when full results land on the trading floors.
