Shell's profits for the second quarter of the year have more than doubled after the Iran war pushed up oil prices. The oil giant's profits for the April-to-June period reached $9.84bn (£7.37bn) - up from $4.26bn at the same point last year. Shell and other energy giants such as BP and Norway's Equinor have seen bumper profits this year, partly down to trading on oil price swings. Before the conflict began, the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, was around $73 a barrel. These big movements in the oil price can widen the gap between buying and selling prices which typically enables traders to make bigger profits.