Energy Stocks in Focus: Shell, NU E Power and Chevron

Shell: Shares Keep Soaring

Shell shares are currently unstoppable. Shares in the Anglo-Dutch oil group are hitting new all-time highs almost every week. The likely driver is the refining business, which is generating bumper profits. Shell operates the Pernis refinery in Rotterdam. It is the largest facility of its kind in Europe. There are also other facilities worldwide. With Ukraine destroying Russian refineries and the Middle East still likely some way from pre-war normality, a genuine shortage of diesel and kerosene is likely on the market.

At the beginning of October, the group also published a third-quarter update. This showed another jump in refining margins. The "indicative refining margin" rose from USD 24 per barrel in the second quarter to an impressive USD 42 per barrel in the third quarter. This increase of around 75% is naturally driving profits. According to the company, refinery utilisation is extremely high, at 93% to 97%. Gas production also rose another 17% in Q3.

Shell plans to present its full third-quarter financial results on October 29, 2026. In the previous quarter, the company had already achieved free cash flow of USD 17.5 billion. The company is primarily using the money to buy back its own shares, with the current share buyback programme exceeding USD 3 billion. The company is also continuing to reshape its portfolio. The gas business in British Columbia is being expanded, and the acquisition of Canada's ARC Resources has been completed. There were divestments in the Gulf of Mexico, Europe and Cyprus.

As long as oil prices and refining margins remain high, Shell's profits should continue to grow. Following the update, banks such as Barclays and Jefferies raised their price targets for Shell shares and continue to recommend buying.

NU E Power Sets Its Sights on the AI Energy Bottleneck

The boom in AI data centres in the US seems to have no end. Investment currently amounts to around 3% of GDP, according to analysts' calculations. This makes this real-economy boom even bigger than the railway rush of the 19th century, which has so far been regarded as the largest wave of investment in modern history. But every boom has bottlenecks, and in the expansion of AI data centres, the main one is energy. For a medium-sized AI data centre, this is equivalent to a small town, or simply ten times what a standard data centre uses without Nvidia's energy-intensive high-performance chips.

The main causes of the bottleneck are waiting times for grid connections, which are overwhelming regional grid operators. Adding to this are lengthy review processes and an ageing US electricity grid that, in places, was not designed to supply enormous amounts of electricity to large consumers. The AI industry is therefore relying primarily on decentralised solutions to avoid delays. This is why demand for gas or solar farms is currently booming.

NU E Power has specialised in this market gap. The Canadian energy specialist focuses on developing and providing energy infrastructure to supply large consumers such as utilities, industry and data centres. The company is taking a capital-light approach. The management team, led by CEO Broderick Gunning, identifies and secures suitable sites early, guides them step by step through the approval process, and concludes grid-connection agreements. Capital flows only once defined milestones, such as offtake agreements, are reached.

The focus is on solar and wind power combined with battery storage. One example is the Hays Project, near Taber in southern Alberta. The planned solar capacity is 145 MWac, with an integrated 61.5 MW (123 MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS). In August, the company signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) to acquire 100% of the project. Upon completion, this would be the company's first wholly owned project. Completion of the acquisition remains subject to seven conditions precedent. Hays has no executed interconnection agreement, power purchase agreement or offtake arrangement in place. NU E Power is targeting industrial companies and data centre operators as offtakers. The company initially focuses on Canada, though it also has an early-stage project in Mongolia.

NU E Power shares are traded on the CSE in Toronto and on Tradegate. Orders should be strictly limited.

Chevron: Everything is Running Smoothly

Chevron shareholders are in a celebratory mood. After a bumpy spring and early summer, the stock has taken off and is up almost 40% this year. Anyone who bought in five years ago has virtually doubled their investment, not even counting the dividends (in USD).

The group is naturally benefiting from tailwinds from the oil market. However, Chevron has also positioned itself cleverly in the past. It has virtually no operations in the Persian Gulf. Its largest production regions are the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan and the Gulf of Mexico. This positions it in politically stable regions, and it can certainly also count on backing from Washington. In the long term, it should also benefit from its first-mover advantage in Venezuela. As the only US group operating there, Chevron was already able to reach basic agreements on expanding its production in late summer. It plans to invest USD 7 billion over the next 5 years to double existing production to 600,000 barrels per day. New production acreage has also been acquired in the Orinoco Belt. For Chevron, Venezuela's heavy oil has its advantages, as the group's US Gulf Coast refineries are technically designed specifically to process this crude efficiently.

Conclusion

Shell is benefiting from strong refining operations, while its share price has reached an all-time high. NU E Power is focusing on solar parks with integrated battery storage to supply industry and AI data centres. Chevron, in turn, is extremely broadly diversified and is already laying the foundations for long-term growth in Venezuela.