By Shadia Nasrallah and Stephanie Kelly

LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - Shell said on Thursday its adjusted first-quarter profit, the benchmark it uses to define net income, rose to $6.92 billion, beating analysts' expectations of $6.36 billion in a company-compiled survey and up from $5.58 billion in the same period last year.

Shell reduced the pace of its quarterly share buyback program from $3.5 billion to $3 billion.

Shell's oil and gas production fell 4 percent compared to the previous quarter due to the US-Israeli war on Iran, including damage to the Pearl gas plant in Qatar, where repairs could take about a year.

Shell's debt ratio, or debt-to-equity ratio including leases, rose to 23.2 percent from 20.7 percent at the end of 2025. Shell cited managing price and supply disruptions and volatility caused by the war as the reason for the increased debt, after previously saying it was very comfortable with a ratio of 20 percent.