Shell's second-quarter net profit more than doubled to $9.84 billion, against an $8.92 billion consensus. [1] Tuesday adds no new quarter. It adds a president telling oil firms they made too much money and should lower prices. [2]
The paper's Monday brief already named the trading desk as priced off the same disruption that cut Qatar volumes. Integrated gas made $2.7 billion while gas production fell 31 percent quarter on quarter. Pearl remains down about a year. [1] Trump's scolding does not restart it.
Q3 guidance still excludes Qatar volumes. Buybacks stay at $3 billion into the next results. [3] A doubled print hanging over the next three months is a base the desk must either defend or explain. Households do not get a rebate from a White House adjective.
War-priced profit is a Q2 fact. Q3 is an outlook that still has no Pearl and no cleared Hormuz. That is the hang.
BP's nearly $6 billion and Aramco's $33 billion sit in the same Tuesday profit file. [2] They do not convert Shell's print into household diesel. The desk booked volatility. Q3 still has to live in it.
-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco