Oil has been on a knife-edge in 2026, with strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island briefly pushing Brent crude (QAM26) above $110 and a very tenuous ceasefire stirring fresh worries about traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. That same flashpoint has fueled talk that a serious squeeze in shipments could even send prices toward $200 a barrel, turning every headline into a new risk check for global energy names.
Shell (SHEL) is right in the middle of that story. The company says strong oil trading should give its Q1 numbers a boost, even as it lowers its gas output outlook because of the Iran situation. That mix of higher crude prices, softer production guidance, and capital moving out of the region is an odd backdrop for a stock that is already up more than 20% this year and still yields about 3.1%.
