London, June 24, 2026, 15:08 BST
- Shell shares dropped 1.7% to about 2,947 pence. Brent crude was moving closer to $74 a barrel.
- BP shares dropped roughly 2.7%. The FTSE 100 gained 0.3%.
- Shell has put its $3 billion share buyback on hold until July 14, pausing the program as ARC Resources shareholders get ready to vote.
Shell Plc shares slipped about 1.7% to 2,953 pence on Wednesday. Crude prices dropped again, with Brent trading near a four-month low as more tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz and chances for higher Iranian exports increased.
Brent crude dropped $3.32, or 4.3%, to $73.76 a barrel by 1327 GMT. Futures hit $73.60, the weakest since February 27, just before U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. Selling picked up after Washington gave a 60-day waiver for Iranian oil sales and new shipping paths through Hormuz. Tim Waterer of KCM Trade said Iranian exports could ramp up in “weeks rather than months.” Siebert Financial’s Mark Malek argued traders are “assigning too much confidence” to a lasting agreement. Reuters
BP took more of the pain among London oil majors. Shares in BP dropped around 3% to 483.6 pence. The FTSE 100 hardly moved.
Shell posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of $6.92 billion, up from $5.58 billion last year, as it went into the quarter highly exposed to energy price moves. The chemicals and products unit, which covers refining and oil trading, reported $1.93 billion in earnings. Cash flow from operations landed at $6.1 billion after a working-capital outflow of $11.2 billion. CFO Sinead Gorman said she was “very happy with the balance sheet”. Reuters
Shell has stopped its $3 billion buyback for now, pausing until after the ARC shareholder meeting wraps up on July 14 due to securities-law rules. The company said any buybacks missed during this halt might get pushed into 2026 programmes if the board signs off. Shell already trimmed its quarterly buyback to $3 billion in May from $3.5 billion.
Shell said in April it will buy ARC, a Canadian producer, in a deal valuing ARC at $16.4 billion enterprise value. The structure includes about 25% cash and 75% in Shell shares. ARC brings 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, mainly natural gas produced near Shell’s LNG assets in Canada. “We are very comfortable with what this does for our financial framework,” CEO Wael Sawan said after the deal was announced. Reuters
Shell is sticking with its June 29 payout date for the first-quarter dividend. UK shareholders who haven’t picked a different currency will get 29.18 pence per ordinary share, more than in the previous quarter.
The trade still cuts both ways. If Hormuz stays open, crude could hover in the low $70s, hitting Shell’s upstream cash flow just as ARC payments come due. But if talks fail, oil prices may jump again and bring back gas outages and liquidity pressure like earlier in the war. Sawan said June 10 that it could take “close to a year, if not longer” for crude markets to balance. Reuters
