Shell and TotalEnergies both reported heavy declines in profits for the second quarter as oil and gas prices continued to weaken following their highs in 2022. Shares in Shell fell by 1.9% on Thursday morning, while TotalEnergies stocks fell by 1%.
Both oil and gas majors missed analysts’ earnings forecasts, reporting headline profits for the second quarter of around $5 billion each. This is a year-on-year decline of 56% for Shell and 49% for TotalEnergies. Despite this decline, Shell’s results were in line with its 2021 performance, while TotalEnergies exceeded its profit that year.
Shell Chief Executive Wael Sawan insisted that the British company exhibited a “strong operational performance despite a lower commodity price environment”. TotalEnergies Chief Patrick Pouyanne also spoke of the fall in oil and gas prices affecting his company’s profits.
Liquified natural gas (LNG) prices plummeted from around $33 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) a year ago to $11.75 mmBtu. Benchmark Brent crude prices averaged around $80 per barrel during the second quarter of 2023 compared to $110 the previous year.