Shell stock was trading at $56.23 as of 10:45 AM EDT.

Following the release of its second-highest quarterly profits on record on Thursday, Shell (NYSE:SHEL) sees a more than 5% surge in price in London trade, leading to calls for the U.K. to raise windfall profits taxes.

Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell (NYSE:SHEL), stated that the company must “embrace” the “societal fact” that governments would look to corporations who have benefitted from rising oil and gas prices to assist balance soaring energy bills for consumers.

Profits for the third quarter more than doubled to $9.45 billion from $4.13 billion during the same period the previous year, exceeding the analyst consensus estimate of $9 billion and coming on the heels of record Q2 earnings of $11.47 billion, putting the oil giant on track to break its all-time annual profit record of $31 billion set in 2008.

Despite a slight decline from the $23.15 billion adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter, Q3 adjusted EBITDA of $21.51 billion nevertheless exceeded analyst forecasts of $20.7 billion.

Shell (NYSE:SHEL) announced that it will increase its dividend by 15% for the fourth quarter and buy back an additional $4 billion worth of shares, bringing the total amount of shares purchased this year to $18.5 billion.

Although average crude oil prices were lower in Q3 compared to Q2, Shell (NYSE:SHEL) benefited from the good operational performance of its deepwater properties, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, where it recovered considerable amounts of “high-value barrels.”

Shell Stock Outlook Indicators

To 2.77 million boe/day for the quarter, total production that was available for sale decreased 5% from the previous quarter. As a result of $4.2 billion in working capital outflows and $3.4 billion in tax payments, Q3 cash flow from operations decreased by a third to $12.54 billion.

In the fourth quarter, Shell (NYSE:SHEL) expects its oil products business to generate sales volumes of 2.25M-2.75M bbl/day and refinery utilization of 88%-96%; in the fourth quarter, Shell (NYSE:SHEL) anticipates plant utilization of 72%-80% and sales volumes of 2.7M-3.2M tons in the chemicals business. The price of Shell’s (NYSE:SHEL)  shares has increased 3.7% YTD over the last 12 months.

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