Shell flagged significantly higher trading profits in its first‑quarter report, citing extreme volatility from Middle East disruptions. The company also noted its own oil and gas production would fall to between 880,000 and 920,000 barrels per day from 948,000 bpd in the previous quarter, a decline attributed to the conflict’s impact on Qatari volumes. BP announced an expected exceptional oil‑trading result for the quarter, after Brent for immediate delivery spiked to $150. The firm’s update highlighted that all earnings estimates include the heightened volatility in crude, natural gas and refined product prices caused by the Middle East situation. TotalEnergies said the war had shut in as much as 15% of its global oil and gas production, accounting for a tenth of its upstream cash flow. It also projected a 10% increase in LNG production and expected integrated LNG results and cash flow to be significantly higher than the fourth quarter of 2025, with production starts in Brazil and Libya offsetting lost Middle Eastern barrels. Equinor guided for trading‑division operating income of about $400 million, noting that Persian Gulf conflict‑driven volatility had boosted crude, product and liquid prices. The company added that European geographic spreads supported gains from optimising gas flows, a benefit expected to extend into future quarters. In contrast, Exxon warned that its hedging decisions could reduce earnings by up to $2.9 billion, while downstream losses and shipment disruptions might hit between $3.3 billion and $5.3 billion. Chevron projected a boost of $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion in first‑quarter profits from higher oil and gas prices, but also anticipated downstream and hedging losses of $2.7 billion to $3.7 billion. Overall, Europe’s supermajors are capitalising on trading profits to offset upstream output declines, a pattern that is likely to persist into the second quarter as volatile markets continue to reward active trading desks.