Shell's earnings continued to rise, aided by a strong trading performance and higher prices stemming from the conflict in the Middle East, enabling the energy major to maintain its quarterly buyback.

The British energy giant's second-quarter adjusted earnings--a closely watched metric that strips out certain commodity price adjustments and one-time charges--rose to $9.84 billion from the $6.915 billion it reported for the preceding quarter. Analysts had expected $8.92 billion, according to estimates compiled by Vara Research.

The $3 billion buyback matches its May tranche, when it scaled back from $3.5 billion, and marks the 19th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion in repurchases.

Shell said its earnings reflect record upstream production in Brazil and record refinery utilization. Higher margins pushed adjusted earnings in its chemicals division to their highest level since the third quarter of 2021.

The conflict in the Middle East has given oil majors an unexpected earnings windfall.

Trading desks have benefited from Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz--the vital waterway on the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas typically flows. Upstream units, which extract oil and gas, are posting bumper profits on higher prices after customers scrambled to replace the supply stuck in the Gulf. Now, those able to refine crude oil into diesel, jet fuel, and petrochemicals are benefiting from margins at record levels.

Over the second quarter, Shell delivered $21.4 billion in operating cash flow and cut net debt to $42 billion from $52.6 billion at the end of the first quarter.

The conflict has seen Shell lose roughly 10% of its total production due to damaged or shut-down assets in Qatar, where it owns the Pearl gas-to-liquids plant and has a 30% stake in a QatarEnergy LNG facility.