Oil giants still make money despite Covid-19 slump   

Shell profited from the sharp drop in the price of crude for prompt delivery relative to that for future supplies, allowing it to lock in a profit by buying and storing oil, while selling forward in the derivatives market. 

Trading oil supplies on markets saved European Big Oil from the full impact of this year’s oil crisis. 

It’s not the first time that massive profits from in-house trading desks ameliorated poor operating results from the core business of finding and producing hydrocarbons — and it won’t be the last.