Shell reports second-highest quarterly profit ever

British oil and gas giant Shell reported $9.5 billion in third-quarter profits Thursday, more than doubling its profits from the same period last year, amid high gas prices.

It’s the second-highest quarterly profit in the company’s history, down only from the second quarter of 2022, when Shell reported $11.5 billion in profit. The company has already raked in more than $30 billion this year, on track to smash its annual profit record, which was set in 2008. 

Shell announced that it will buy back an additional $4 billion in stock, bringing its total buybacks this year to $18.5 billion. 

It’s the latest energy titan to report massive profits as consumers face high energy costs. ExxonMobil and Chevron are also enjoying record profits this year and are expected to unveil huge earnings on Friday. 

“We are delivering robust results at a time of ongoing volatility in global energy markets,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement.

The report drew outrage from British politicians, who this year enacted a windfall tax on excessive energy profits and whose constituents are dealing with sky-high energy costs. Shell said that it didn’t qualify for the tax because it made large drilling investments in the United Kingdom.

Ed Miliband, a Labour Party politician, tweeted that the revelation is further proof that the nation needs a “proper windfall tax to make the energy companies pay their fair share.”