Shell (SHEL.L, SHELL.AS) shares rose early Thursday morning after the energy major reported stronger first-half results, driven primarily by higher prices amid the Middle East conflict, and unveiled a fresh $3 billion stock buyback program.
Attributable income for the six months ended June 30 jumped to $16.52 billion from $8.38 billion a year earlier, while revenue rose to $164.36 billion from $134.64 billion.
Shares were up more than 1% in both London and Amsterdam during early Thursday trading.
Adjusted earnings rose to $16.75 billion from $9.84 billion, supported by higher realized liquids and gas prices as well as higher refining and chemicals margins, partially offset by higher operating expenses and unfavorable tax movements, among others.
Along with the first-half results, Shell launched a new $3 billion stock repurchase program. The company said it also intends to buy back $1.23 billion worth of shares that it could not repurchase under its previous program, which was suspended due to its planned acquisition of ARC Resources.
Shell also raised its second-quarter dividend to $0.3906 per share from $0.3580 per share paid the previous year.
Looking ahead to the third quarter, Shell expects integrated gas production to range between 570,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 630,000 boe/d. LNG liquefaction volumes are expected to be 7.1 million tonnes to 7.7 million tonnes. Upstream production is expected to be 1.7 million boe/d to 1.9 million boe/d, while marketing sales volumes are expected to be 2.6 million barrels per day to 2.8 million b/d.



