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Behind Big Oil’s first-quarter beat: The quiet rise of trading desks

Cnbc · · 983 words · By Sam Meredith
European vs US Oil Company Strategy Energy Market Volatility Corporate Profitability
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/12/oil-energy-trading-iran-war-bp-shell.html

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

8 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 4
check_circle Corroborated 3
verified Verified By Reference 1
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“Europe's oil supermajors TotalEnergies, Shell and BP all pointed to robust trading results as they reported stronger-than-expected profits through the first three months of the year.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web search results confirm that BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies reported strong Q1 profits driven by trading windfalls and market volatility.
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web search NEUTRAL — BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies earned between $3.3 billion and $4.75 billion more in Q1 2025 trading than Q4 2025, driven by extreme market volatility from the Iran war.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/BP-Shell-TotalEne…
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web search NEUTRAL — Shell PLC reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter profits of nearly $7 billion, driven by operational excellence despite unprecedented Middle East disruptions.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/plasticstoday_shell-plc-repor…
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web search NEUTRAL — Shell, BP and TotalEnergies reported record first-quarter net profits, driven by oil price volatility from the Middle East conflict, renewing calls for windfall taxes.
https://energynews.pro/en/shell-bp-and-totalenergies-post-re…
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“TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné said crude oil and petroleum products trading activities achieved 'a very strong performance in March' as it posted quarterly net income of $5.4 billion, a 29% jump from a year ago.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm TotalEnergies posted a $5.4 billion net income in Q1, bolstered by trading activities. While one source mentions a 3% YoY increase and another mentions a 29% jump (implied by the claim's specific figure), the $5.4bn figure is consistent across reports.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (formally known as the 2026 TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps) was an endurance sportscar racing event, held between 7 and 9 May 2026 at Circuit de Spa-F…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_6_Hours_of_Spa-Francorcha…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 Qatar TotalEnergies Open was a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 24th edition of the WTA Qatar Open, and a WTA 1000 tournament on the 2026 WTA T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Qatar_TotalEnergies_Open
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TotalEnergies
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Shell posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of $6.92 billion, up from $5.58 billion a year ago”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for Shell contains general company information and Wikipedia entries but does not contain the specific financial figures ($6.92 billion vs $5.58 billion) mentioned in the claim. Only the original claim provides these specific numbers.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In physics, particularly in quantum field theory, configurations of a physical system that satisfy classical equations of motion are called on the mass shell (on shell); while those that do not are ca…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_shell_and_off_shell
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shell or Shells may refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary li…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_plc
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“BP reported net profit of $3.2 billion, more than doubling its profit from the same period in 2025.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources confirm BP reported underlying profits of $3.2 billion for Q1 2026, which was more than double the level from the previous year, driven by oil trading during the Iran war.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Aral AG (previously Veba Öl AG) is a German oil company established in 1898 as Westdeutsche Benzol-Verkaufs-Vereinigung GmbH (West German Benzene Marketing Corporation). The company is currently owned…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_AG
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This page lists the largest annual and quarterly earnings and losses in corporate history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_corporate_prof…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In Euclidean geometry, a tangential quadrilateral (sometimes just tangent quadrilateral) or circumscribed quadrilateral is a convex quadrilateral whose sides all can be tangent to a single circle with…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangential_quadrilateral
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“TotalEnergies, Shell and BP's trading units were estimated to have earned between $3.3 billion and $4.75 billion extra in the first quarter, compared with the final three months of 2025, The Financial Times reported Monday, citing estimates from five analysts.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The claim is explicitly confirmed by a web search result citing the Financial Times, which reports analyst estimates that the three companies earned between $3.3 billion and $4.75 billion more in Q1 compared to Q4 2025.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shell Energy Retail Limited was a British consumer gas, electricity and broadband provider. Formerly a subsidiary of Shell, the business was acquired by Octopus Energy in December 2023. The company pu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_Energy
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary li…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_plc
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TotalEnergies
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“BP... [has] over 2,000 people serving 12,000 customers in more than 140 countries.”
SINGLE SOURCE
Web search results provide general information about BP's campus and trading functions but do not confirm the specific numbers of 2,000 employees and 12,000 customers in 140 countries. One result mentions 140+ countries but refers to a different firm (Audacity Capital).
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web search NEUTRAL — BP has a major corporate campus in Sunbury-on-Thames which is home to around 3,500 employees and over 50 business units.[205] Its North Sea operations are headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland. BP's tra…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP
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web search NEUTRAL — BP's profits for the first three months of the year have more than doubled following a surge in oil prices since the beginning of the Iran war.Profits in BP's customers and products division, which in…
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2eveyvgn9no
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web search NEUTRAL — Trusted by Traders Globally Since 2012. Changing Lives Through Capital. We’re more than a prop firm, we’re a long-standing partner in your trading journey. By funding talented traders across 140+ coun…
https://audacity.capital/
info
“energy giants took on significant short-term debt and drew down their cash reserves in the first quarter.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided for this claim consists of dictionary definitions of the word 'major' and 'college majors', which are completely irrelevant to the financial activities of energy companies.
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web search NEUTRAL — Look up Major or major in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Major (s) or The Major may also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major
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web search NEUTRAL — Below is a list of over 1,800 college majors profiled on MyMajors. Search for majors by selecting a category and refining your search or use search box below. Major Pages include Description, Courses,…
https://www.mymajors.com/college-majors/
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web search NEUTRAL — The meaning of MAJOR is greater in dignity, rank, importance, or interest. How to use major in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/major
info
“For the top five oil supermajors, this culminated in cash flow from operations falling to their lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided consists of general Wikipedia entries about the COVID-19 pandemic and unrelated medical claims, with no mention of the cash flow of oil supermajors.
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web search NEUTRAL — Main articles: COVID-19 pandemic deaths and COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country.By 31 January, Italy indicated its first confirmed infections had occurred, in two tourists from China.[213] On 19 …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic
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web search NEUTRAL — Irrefutable proof that COVID-19 “vaccine” mRNA, plasmid DNA, and spike protein can persist in humans for more than 3.5 years after injection.The next step is systematic population-level investigation.…
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/mrna-injections-confirmed-t…
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web search NEUTRAL — Dr Amir Khan shows you how to test yourself for coronavirus (COVID-19) using a self-test rapid antigen test kit, as well as how to read your result and repor...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9XR8RZxKNo
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.