Shell plc publishes second quarter 2025 press release

Rhea-AI Summary

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) reported Q2 2025 financial results with Adjusted Earnings of $4.3 billion and robust cash flow from operations (CFFO) of $11.9 billion. The company announced a new $3.5 billion share buyback program for the next three months, marking the 15th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion in buybacks.

Key operational highlights include $3.9 billion in structural cost reductions since 2022, the first cargo shipment from LNG Canada, and enhanced deep-water positions in Nigeria and Brazil. The company maintained its 2025 cash capex outlook at $20-22 billion, with total shareholder distributions over the last 4 quarters representing 46% of CFFO.

Segment performance shows Integrated Gas earnings at $1.7 billion, Upstream at $1.7 billion, Marketing at $1.2 billion, while Chemicals & Products and Renewables & Energy Solutions faced challenges with earnings of $118 million and -$9 million respectively.

Positive

• Announced $3.5 billion share buyback program for next three months
• Achieved $3.9 billion in structural cost reductions since 2022
• Strong cash flow from operations of $11.9 billion
• First cargo shipped from LNG Canada, supporting 4-5% LNG sales growth target to 2030
• Enhanced deep-water portfolio with expansions in Nigeria and Brazil
• 46% of cash flow from operations returned to shareholders over last 4 quarters

Negative

• Adjusted Earnings declined to $4.3 billion due to lower trading contribution
• Lower realized prices across both liquids and gas segments
• Chemicals segment reported losses of $0.2 billion
• Renewables & Energy Solutions segment reported negative earnings of $9 million
• Net debt increased to $43.2 billion from $41.5 billion in Q1 2025

Insights

Energy Financial Analyst

Shell delivered solid $11.9B cash flow despite weaker conditions, enabling $3.5B buyback program while progressing strategic growth initiatives.

Shell's Q2 2025 results demonstrate operational resilience in a challenging market environment. The company generated $11.9 billion in cash flow from operations (CFFO) despite adjusted earnings declining to $4.3 billion from $5.6 billion in Q1, primarily due to lower trading contributions and weaker commodity prices.

The robust cash generation enabled Shell to announce another $3.5 billion share buyback program for the next three months—marking the 15th consecutive quarter with buybacks of at least $3 billion. This consistent capital return strategy has resulted in 46% of CFFO being returned to shareholders over the past four quarters, reinforcing management's commitment to shareholder returns.

Shell continues to make progress on its cost efficiency initiatives, achieving $0.8 billion in structural cost reductions during H1 2025, with $0.5 billion coming from non-portfolio actions. The company has now delivered $3.9 billion in cumulative cost reductions since 2022, advancing toward its 2028 target of $5-7 billion.

Segment performance was mixed. Integrated Gas and Upstream segments showed resilience but faced pressure from lower prices, with realizations dropping to $60/bbl and $64/bbl for liquids, respectively. The Marketing segment was a bright spot with improved margins and seasonal volume increases. However, Chemicals & Products struggled significantly with lower trading results and unplanned downtime, while the Renewables segment reported a small loss of $9 million.

Strategically, Shell continues to enhance its core portfolio, shipping the first cargo from LNG Canada and strengthening its deep-water position with the start-up of Mero-4 in Brazil and increased interests in assets in Brazil and Nigeria. The company maintained its annual capital expenditure guidance of $20-22 billion for 2025, indicating disciplined investment despite market volatility.

While gearing increased slightly to 19%, the balance sheet remains robust with $14.3 billion in net debt excluding leases. The company's focus on high-margin projects and operational efficiency positions it well to navigate ongoing market uncertainties while continuing to deliver shareholder returns.

London, July 31, 2025

"Shell generated robust cash flows reflecting strong operational performance in a less favourable macro environment​. We continued to deliver on our strategy by enhancing our deep-water portfolio in Nigeria and Brazil, and achieved a key milestone by shipping the first cargo from LNG Canada.

Our continued focus on performance, discipline and simplification helped deliver $3.9 billion of structural cost reductions since 2022, with the majority delivered through non-portfolio actions. This focus enables us to commence another $3.5 billion of buybacks for the next three months, the 15th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion in buybacks."

Shell plc Chief Executive Officer, Wael Sawan

ROBUST CASH GENERATION; STRONG OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE

• Adjusted Earnings¹ of $4.3 billion despite lower trading contribution in a weaker margin environment.
• Robust CFFO of $11.9 billion, supported by strong operational performance, enables commencement of another $3.5 billion share buyback programme for the next three months.
• Strong balance sheet, with gearing of 19%. 2025 cash capex outlook unchanged at $20 - 22 billion. Total shareholder distributions paid over the last 4 quarters were 46% of CFFO.
• Achieved $0.8 billion of structural cost reductions in the first half of 2025, of which $0.5 billion is through non-portfolio actions; cumulative reductions since 2022 are $3.9 billion, against CMD25 target of $5 - 7 billion by end of 2028.
• First cargo shipped from LNG Canada, strengthening our leading LNG position and supporting our ambition to achieve LNG sales cumulative annual growth rate of 4 - 5% to 2030.
• Further enhanced peer-leading deep-water position with start-up of Mero-4 (Brazil) and announced increase of interests in Gato do Mato (Brazil) and Bonga (Nigeria); continued to high-grade Downstream and R&ES portfolio.

$ million1		Adj. Earnings	Adj. EBITDA	CFFO	Cash capex
Integrated Gas		1,737	3,875	3,629	1,196
Upstream		1,732	6,638	6,500	2,826
Marketing		1,199	2,181	2,718	429
Chemicals & Products2		118	864	1,372	775
Renewables & Energy Solutions (R&ES)		(9)	102	1	555
Corporate		(463)	(346)	(2,283)	36
Less: Non-controlling interest (NCI)		50
Shell	Q2 2025	4,264	13,313	11,937	5,817
	Q1 2025	5,577	15,250	9,281	4,175

¹Income/(loss) attributable to shareholders for Q2 2025 is $3.6 billion. Reconciliation of non-GAAP measures can be found in the unaudited results, available at www.shell.com/investors.
²Chemicals & Products Adjusted Earnings at a subsegment level are as follows - Chemicals $(0.2) billion and Products $0.3 billion.

• CFFO excluding working capital of $12.3 billion is helped by derivative inflows and JV dividends received.
• Working capital outflow of $0.4 billion reflects a reduction in JV deposits. $1.7 billion of the JV dividends received were previously held in deposit in the Corporate segment.
• Net debt excluding leases is $14.3 billion.

$ billion1	Q2 2024	Q3 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025
Working capital	(0.3)	2.7	2.4	(2.7)	(0.4)
Divestment proceeds	0.8	0.2	0.8	0.6	(0.0)
Free cash flow	10.2	10.8	8.7	5.3	6.5
Net debt	38.3	35.2	38.8	41.5	43.2

¹Reconciliation of non-GAAP measures can be found in the unaudited results, available at www.shell.com/investors.

Q2 2025 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE DRIVERS

INTEGRATED GAS

Key data	Q1 2025	Q2 2025	Q3 2025 outlook
Realised liquids price ($/bbl)	64	60	—
Realised gas price ($/thousand scf)	7.4	7.2	—
Production (kboe/d)	927	913	910 - 970
LNG liquefaction volumes (MT)	6.6	6.7	6.7 - 7.3
LNG sales volumes (MT)	16.5	17.8	—

• Adjusted Earnings were lower than in Q1 2025, reflecting lower prices and significantly lower trading and optimisation results.

UPSTREAM

Key data	Q1 2025	Q2 2025	Q3 2025 outlook
Realised liquids price ($/bbl)	71	64	—
Realised gas price ($/thousand scf)	7.4	6.9	—
Liquids production (kboe/d)	1,335	1,334	—
Gas production (million scf/d)	3,020	2,310	—
Total production (kboe/d)	1,855	1,732	1,700 - 1,900

• Adjusted Earnings were lower than in Q1 2025, reflecting lower prices.

MARKETING

Key data	Q1 2025	Q2 2025	Q3 2025 outlook
Marketing sales volumes (kb/d)	2,674	2,813	2,600 - 3,100
Mobility (kb/d)	1,964	2,044	—
Lubricants (kb/d)	87	85	—
Sectors & Decarbonisation (kb/d)	623	684	—

• Adjusted Earnings were higher than in Q1 2025, driven mainly by improved Mobility unit margins and seasonally higher volumes.

CHEMICALS & PRODUCTS

Key data	Q1 2025	Q2 2025	Q3 2025 outlook
Refinery processing intake (kb/d)	1,362	1,156	—
Chemicals sales volumes (kT)	2,813	2,164	—
Refinery utilisation (%)	85	94	88 - 96
Chemicals manufacturing plant utilisation (%)	81	72	78 - 86
Indicative refining margin (Updated1 $/bbl)	6.2	8.9	—
Indicative chemical margin (Updated1 $/t)	126	166	—

¹Q2 2025 indicative margins reflect the divestment of Singapore Energy and Chemicals (E&C) Park.
Q2 2025 indicative margins if including Singapore E&C Park would have been: Refining - 7.5$/bbl, Chemicals - 143$/t.

• Adjusted Earnings were lower than in Q1 2025 with significantly lower trading and optimisation results, reflecting a disconnect between market volatility and supply-demand fundamentals. Chemicals results were impacted by unplanned downtime and a continued weak margin environment.

RENEWABLES & ENERGY SOLUTIONS

Key data	Q1 2025	Q2 2025
External power sales (TWh)	76	70
Sales of pipeline gas to end-use customers (TWh)	184	132
Renewables power generation capacity (GW)*	7.5	7.6
in operation (GW)	3.5	3.9
under construction and/or committed for sale (GW)	4.0	3.8

*Excludes Shell's equity share of associates where information cannot be obtained.

• Adjusted Earnings were in line with Q1 2025 with seasonally lower trading and marketing margins, offset by lower opex.
  

Renewables and Energy Solutions includes activities such as renewable power generation, the marketing and trading and optimisation of power and pipeline gas, as well as carbon credits, and digitally enabled customer solutions. It also includes the production and marketing of hydrogen, development of commercial carbon capture and storage hubs, investment in nature-based projects that avoid or reduce carbon emissions, and Shell Ventures, which invests in companies that work to accelerate the energy and mobility transformation.

CORPORATE

Key data	Q1 2025	Q2 2025	Q3 2025 outlook
Adjusted Earnings ($ billion)	(0.5)	(0.5)	(0.7) - (0.5)

UPCOMING INVESTOR EVENTS

October 30, 2025

Third quarter 2025 results and dividends

USEFUL LINKS

Results materials Q2 2025
Quarterly Databook Q2 2025
Webcast registration Q2 2025
Dividend announcement Q2 2025
Capital Markets Day 2025 materials

ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE (NON-GAAP) MEASURES

This announcement includes certain measures that are calculated and presented on the basis of methodologies other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) such as IFRS, including Adjusted Earnings, Adjusted EBITDA, CFFO excluding working capital movements, free cash flow, Divestment proceeds and Net debt. This information, along with comparable GAAP measures, is useful to investors because it provides a basis for measuring Shell plc’s operating performance and ability to retire debt and invest in new business opportunities. Shell plc’s management uses these financial measures, along with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, in evaluating the business performance.

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking non-GAAP measures such as Adjusted Earnings and divestments. We are unable to provide a reconciliation of these forward-looking non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures because certain information needed to reconcile the non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is dependent on future events some of which are outside the control of the company, such as oil and gas prices, interest rates and exchange rates. Moreover, estimating such GAAP measures with the required precision necessary to provide a meaningful reconciliation is extremely difficult and could not be accomplished without unreasonable effort. Non-GAAP measures in respect of future periods which cannot be reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are estimated in a manner which is consistent with the accounting policies applied in Shell plc’s consolidated financial statements.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

The companies in which Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement, “Shell”, “Shell Group” and “Group” are sometimes used for convenience to reference Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. “Subsidiaries”, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. The terms “joint venture”, “joint operations”, “joint arrangements”, and “associates” may also be used to refer to a commercial arrangement in which Shell has a direct or indirect ownership interest with one or more parties. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “aim”; “ambition”; “anticipate”; “aspire”; “aspiration”; ‘‘believe’’; “commit”; “commitment”; ‘‘could’’; “desire”; ‘‘estimate’’; ‘‘expect’’; ‘‘goals’’; ‘‘intend’’; ‘‘may’’; “milestones”; ‘‘objectives’’; ‘‘outlook’’; ‘‘plan’’; ‘‘probably’’; ‘‘project’’; ‘‘risks’’; “schedule”; ‘‘seek’’; ‘‘should’’; ‘‘target’’; “vision”; ‘‘will’’; “would” and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks, including climate change; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, judicial, fiscal and regulatory developments including tariffs and regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, regional conflicts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict in the Middle East, and a significant cyber security, data privacy or IT incident; (n) the pace of the energy transition; and (o) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Shell plc’s Form 20-F and amendment thereto for the year ended December 31, 2024 (available at www.shell.com/investors/news-and-filings/sec-filings.html and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, July 31, 2025. Neither Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.

All amounts shown throughout this announcement are unaudited. The numbers presented throughout this announcement may not sum precisely to the totals provided and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures, due to rounding.

Shell’s Net Carbon Intensity

Also, in this  announcement, we may refer to Shell’s “net carbon intensity” (NCI), which includes Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell’s NCI also includes the emissions associated with the production and use of energy products produced by others which Shell purchases for resale. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the terms Shell’s “net carbon intensity” or NCI is for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.

Shell’s Net-Zero Emissions Target

Shell’s operating plan and outlook are forecasted for a three-year period and ten-year period, respectively, and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next three and ten years. Accordingly, the outlook reflects our Scope 1, Scope 2 and NCI targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plan and outlook cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target, as this target is outside our planning period. Such future operating plans and outlooks could include changes to our portfolio, efficiency improvements and the use of carbon capture and storage and carbon credits. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans and outlooks to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.

The content of websites referred to in this announcement does not form part of this announcement.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F and any amendment thereto, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

The financial information presented in this announcement does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 434(3) of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act”). Statutory accounts for the year ended December 31, 2024 were published in Shell’s Annual Report and Accounts, a copy of which was delivered to the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales. The auditor’s report on those accounts was unqualified, did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report and did not contain a statement under sections 498(2) or 498(3) of the Act.

The information in this announcement does not constitute the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements which are contained in Shell’s second quarter 2025 unaudited results available on www.shell.com/investors.

CONTACTS

• Media: International +44 207 934 5550; U.S. and Canada: Contact form

FAQ

What were Shell's (SHEL) Q2 2025 earnings?

Shell reported Adjusted Earnings of $4.3 billion and cash flow from operations of $11.9 billion in Q2 2025.

How much is Shell's new share buyback program for Q3 2025?

Shell announced a $3.5 billion share buyback program for the next three months, marking the 15th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion in buybacks.

What is Shell's progress on cost reductions since 2022?

Shell has achieved $3.9 billion in structural cost reductions since 2022, with $0.8 billion achieved in the first half of 2025, targeting $5-7 billion by end of 2028.

What was Shell's LNG production and sales volume in Q2 2025?

Shell reported LNG liquefaction volumes of 6.7 MT and LNG sales volumes of 17.8 MT in Q2 2025.

What is Shell's cash capex outlook for 2025?

Shell maintained its 2025 cash capex outlook at $20-22 billion.

How much did Shell return to shareholders in the past year?

Shell's total shareholder distributions over the last 4 quarters represented 46% of cash flow from operations.