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Profits at Shell have climbed to more than $43bn for the year so far after fossil fuel production in the Gulf of Mexico reached a 20-year high and production in Brazil set a new record.

The oil company reported better than expected earnings of $5.4bn for the third quarter, a 27% increase on the $4.3bn in the previous three-month period – but lower than the $6bn recorded over the same period a year earlier.

The energy company plans to buy back shares from its investors for the 16th consecutive quarter.

The FTSE 100 company is on track to report lower annual profits this year compared with 2024 due to lower oil and gas prices in the global market, but the company claimed to have “one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry”.

Wael Sawan, Shell’s chief executive, said: “Shell delivered another strong set of results, with clear progress across our portfolio and excellent performance in our marketing business and deepwater assets in the Gulf of America and Brazil.

“Despite continued volatility, our strong delivery this quarter enables us to commence another $3.5bn of buybacks for the next three months.”

The company’s London headquarters were targeted in protests this week after activists from Fossil Free London staged an early Halloween campaign against the company’s “horror show” profits.

Robin Wells, the director of Fossil Free London, said: “Each quarter, Shell’s inordinate profits are announced, with no acknowledgment of the exploitation and destruction of communities across the world that enables this greed. We’re here today to say that Shell’s profits are a horror show. And that when it comes to big oil, it’s always trick or trick.”