Oil giant Shell has continued to build on this year’s record results as it has added nearly 10 billion dollars in extra profit as gas prices remain high.

The business said its adjusted earnings more than doubled to 9.5 billion dollars (£8.2 billion) in the three months up to the end of September when compared with last year.

That being said, profits are down compared to the company’s second quarter where it saw a profit of 11.5 billion dollars (£9.9 billion), as the price of oil slowly began to fall after months of multi-year highs due to the war in Ukraine.

“We are delivering robust results at a time of ongoing volatility in global energy markets,” said chief executive Ben van Beurden.

Shell is now nine months into what promises to be the company’s most profitable year ever, barring an unlikely major collapse in oil and gas prices over the next two months.

The business was already benefiting from a global economy that had reopened after the pandemic and was desperate for energy to fuel its growth.

How to reduce your energy bills

Then Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine which pushed European gas prices to all-time highs and the price of oil soared internationally.

The months-long energy crisis led then-chancellor Rishi Sunak in May to introduce a windfall tax on oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea.

However, this has not stopped Shell from handing billions of dollars to its shareholders this year.

On Thursday, the company announced plans to return another four billion dollars (£3.5 billion) to shareholders by buying back shares over the next three months and said it will also increase the dividend by 15%.

It takes the total payout to Shell shareholders to 26 billion dollars (£22.4 billion) so far this year.

Mr van Beurden said: “We continue to strengthen Shell’s portfolio through disciplined investment and transform the company for a low-carbon future.

“At the same time we are working closely with governments and customers to address their short and long-term energy needs.

“Today we are announcing a new share buyback programme resulting in an additional four billion dollars of distributions, which we expect to complete by our Q4 (fourth quarter) 2022 results announcement.”

This comes as people have criticised Rishi Sunak’s plan for not going far enough.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “The Conservative Government’s refusal to properly tax these eye-watering profits is an insult to families struggling to pay their energy bills.

“Even the CEO of Shell has admitted that oil and gas companies should be taxed more to help protect vulnerable households.”

Threat of winter blackouts

This comes as the threat of winter blackouts for the UK could see homes left without power between 4 pm and 7 pm.

This was the warning from the National Grid earlier this month from its chief executive John Pettigrew as the country prepares for winter with potential gas shortages.

The first planned blackouts in decades might hit parts of the UK if power plants can’t get enough gas to keep them running.

In the “unlikely" scenario of planned blackouts, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said that households and businesses may face three-hour outages to ensure the grid does not collapse.