Oil and gas giant Shell has posted big profits for the three months to the end of September.

It reported earnings of $6.2bn (£5.1bn) between July and September, a 23% increase on the previous quarter, as reported by the BBC.

But profits were down from $9.4bn for the same period last year, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused a sharp rise in gas and oil prices.

While oil prices are lower than they were a year ago, they have gone up recently.

The World Bank warned earlier this week that the conflict in the Middle East could push the price of crude oil up from its current price of $85 a barrel to $150 a barrel.

Shell said the rise in profits was due to higher oil prices and pumping more oil and gas, as well as making more money from refining and gas trading.

The company has now announced a plan to return $3.5bn to shareholders through a buyback programme. It will return $23bn to shareholders this year.

Shell recently announced it is to cut at least 15% of the workforce at its low-carbon solutions division.

Earlier this week (October 31), fellow oil and gas giant, BP, reported that it had made £2.7bn in profits  for the same period.

Punchline-Gloucester.com said: "It's madness that fuel companies are making so much money when people across the country are struggling with their fuel bills."