Shell more than doubles its profit in Q2, beating expectations

By Stephanie Kelly and Shadia Nasralla

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - Shell's adjusted earnings, its definition of net profit, reached $9.84 billion in the second quarter, it said on Thursday, beating expectations and more than doubling its profit from the same time last year.

Higher oil and gas prices, stronger LNG and oil trading and improved chemicals margins helped support the British major's earnings, offsetting lower sales volumes from disruptions to its Qatar operations during the conflict in the Middle East.

Analysts had expected net profit of $8.92 billion, according to a company-provided consensus, compared with $4.26 billion a year earlier.

Shell and its peers have benefited from the market disruptions caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has driven up oil and gas prices and increased volatility across the energy sector. Higher commodity prices have boosted the value of their production, while sharp market swings have created more opportunities for the large trading businesses operated by companies such as Shell, BP and TotalEnergies.

Shell said it would maintain the pace of its share buyback programme at $3 billion over the next three months.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Shadia Nasralla, Editing by Louise Heavens)