Shell’s profits pass $43bn after production hits new highs in Brazil and Gulf of Mexico
Profits at Shell have climbed to more than $43bn for the year so far after fossil fuel production in the Gulf of Mexico reached a 20-year high and production in Brazil set a new record,The oil company reported better than expected earnings of $5,4bn for the third quarter, a 27% increase on the $4,3bn in the previous three-month period – but lower than the $6bn recorded over the same period a year earlier,The FTSE 100 company is on track to report lower annual profits this year compared with 2024 due to lower oil and gas prices in the global market, but the company claimed to have “one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry”.
Wael Sawan, Shell’s chief executive, said: “Shell delivered another strong set of results, with clear progress across our portfolio and excellent performance in our marketing business and deepwater assets in the Gulf of America and Brazil,”More than half of Shell’s oil and gas volumes are extracted from projects in Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico, where this year it began production at the Whale platform,The project has delivered more oil and gas than expected in its investment case, and in half the time anticipated,Shell has also started up projects in the UK this year, where it has reported a tax charge of $509m (£387m) for the first nine months of the year related to the UK energy profits levy – a windfall tax,The levy was introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when global oil prices reached more than $100 a barrel, inflating oil company profits, and was due to remain in place until 2030.
However, Rachel Reeves is reportedly weighing up plans to scrap the profits levy on the UK oil and gas industry sooner than expected amid growing concerns over the government’s approach to the North Sea,The chancellor may use next month’s budget to end the windfall tax in March 2029 instead, according to the Financial Times,But the Treasury is understood to be seeking assurances from oil and gas companies that the move would result in greater jobs and investment,Sawan told investment analysts that Shell was “hopeful” that the upcoming budget would bring an improvement to the UK’s fiscal environment and that “predictability and reliability would come to play”,He said the company had been clear that it values a “predictable and a progressive tax system”, and added that “reliability is key”.
Since the windfall tax was introduced global oil prices have tumbled to about $65 a barrel.The average price over the last quarter was $69 a barrel, compared with more than $80 a barrel in the same period last year.Sawan said: “Despite continued volatility, our strong delivery this quarter enables us to commence another $3.5bn of buybacks for the next three months.”Shell plans to buy back shares from its investors for the 16th consecutive quarter, in line with its aim to return between 40% and 50% of cashflow to investors.
The latest buybacks put the company on track to have purchased about a quarter of its shares over the past four years,The company’s London headquarters were targeted by protesters this week after activists from Fossil Free London staged an early Halloween campaign against the company’s “horror show” profits,Robin Wells, the director of Fossil Free London, said: “Each quarter, Shell’s inordinate profits are announced, with no acknowledgment of the exploitation and destruction of communities across the world that enables this greed,We’re here today to say that Shell’s profits are a horror show,And that when it comes to big oil, it’s always trick or trick.
”
Thunder guard Nikola Topic, 20, undergoing treatment for testicular cancer
Oklahoma City Thunder say their 2024 first-round draft pick, Nikola Topic, is undergoing chemotherapy to treat testicular cancer.Thunder’s general manager, Sam Presti, said on Thursday that doctors are “extremely positive” about Topic’s outlook.“Our only expectations for him are to focus on this,” Presti said. “This is his most important priority. He’ll be back playing basketball when he’s able to, but we’re not putting any time length or expectations on that obviously
Breeders’ Cup 2025: all-conquering O’Brien arrives with sights on new record
Aidan O’Brien’s gallop towards an extension of his record for Group One wins in a season has slowed a little in recent weeks, but there was still a shield-beating sense of theatre about the scene as his team for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar this weekend made its way to the track for morning exercise on Wednesday.Unlike 2024, when City Of Troy was being aimed at the Classic, there is no obvious headliner in the O’Brien lineup, but plenty of the horses trotting past in a well-ordered single file have banked at least one Group One already this season and four are expected to set off as favourite.Minnie Hauk, the Arc runner-up and a three-time Group One winner over the summer, heads the market for the Turf on Saturday, while Gstaad (Juvenile Turf), Precise (Juvenile Fillies’ Turf) and True Love (Juvenile Turf Sprint) are also all likely favourites for the three turf events on Friday’s card for juveniles. Other runners from the yard at single-figure odds include The Lion In Winter (Mile) and Havana Anna (Juvenile Turf Sprint), and the Ballydoyle squadron is, as so often, at the heart of the European challenge at the meeting.O’Brien needs a single success this weekend to take sole control of the record for Breeders’ Cup with 21, one more than the late D Wayne Lukas, who died in June
England’s Ashes debacle and review was meant to change everything. Did it? | Raf Nicholson
England have been knocked out of a World Cup after losing a match they were expected to win, thanks to a one-off innings which nobody saw coming. Sound familiar? That’s because it describes two events involving England which took place almost exactly a year apart: on Wednesday, their 50-over semi-final exit at the hands of South Africa; a year ago, their loss in a must-win group stage match against West Indies in the 20-over version.In the interim, a 16-0 Ashes debacle and a post-series review which was meant to change everything. Did it? Time to delve a little more deeply into those two World Cup exits. In 2024, England fell to pieces, dropped five catches, and allowed a bish-bash-bosh innings from Qiana Joseph to win the day
England at risk of 2027 World Cup embarrassment and in need of ODI upswing
Harry Brook has admitted that he is flummoxed by England’s inability to get consistent results in recent one-day internationals, saying that some of the supposedly stellar talents in his squad – which includes up to seven batters he insists “would get into any team in the world” – “just haven’t performed well enough”.“It is disappointing, isn’t it?” England’s white-ball captain said, as he looked ahead to the third and inal fixture in an already-lost series against New Zealand. “You go round every single player there and you think: ‘Bloody hell, there isn’t many teams that they don’t get into in the world.’ It’s disappointing we haven’t performed as well as we could. Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hand up and say they’ve been the better team
Trey Lance has cost $7m per start. Is there any hope of reclaiming a once hyped prospect?
Quarterbacks such as Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield have gone from busts to MVP candidates. The Chargers backup is in the ideal place to make a similar journeyThe development path for young NFL quarterbacks is brutal. They get lobbed in at the deep end as franchises try to figure out if their investment was worth it, before being tossed overboard if things go wrong. The league eats its young. The path from potential franchise starter to career backup – or out of the league – has never been shorter
‘Bats out for Benny’: teenager killed by cricket ball honoured amid debate over neck guards
Australia’s cricket community have begun to put their bats out in a gesture to remember teenage cricketer Ben Austin after he was killed by a ball hitting his neck in a practice session, in an incident in Melbourne on Tuesday described as similar to the death of former Test player Phillip Hughes in 2014.The 17-year-old was wearing a helmet but not a neck guard, and while the incident is likely to trigger calls to make such protection mandatory at the community level – as it already is among elite players – cricket officials said the priority must be around supporting Austin’s family and the boy who threw the ball with a training tool known as a sidearm or “wanger”.Austin’s cricket club, Ferntree Gully, posted on Facebook on Thursday calling on people to “put your bats out for Benny”, replicating the gesture that followed Hughes’ death. Dozens of other posts under the hashtag #batsoutforben have followed, highlighting the impact the incident has had on Australia’s cricket community.Cricket Victoria’s chief executive, Nick Cummins, was emotional in addressing media on Thursday
Man who won damages over Richard III film calls for more regulation of fact-based drama
Jon Stewart on Trump’s taunts of an illegal third term: ‘We know he’s thought about it’
Steve Coogan says Richard III film was ‘story I wanted to tell’ as he agrees to libel settlement
‘We were fitted with remote control penises’: Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke on Kevin and Perry Go Large
From White Teeth to Swing Time: Zadie Smith’s best books - ranked!
Ardal O’Hanlon: ‘I fell asleep on stage once – I could hear someone doing my material, got annoyed and woke up’