CNN
Huge profits at BP and Shell revive calls for windfall tax to tackle fuel poverty
By Mark Thompson, CNN Business: February 8, 2022
London (CNN Business) – News that Britain’s biggest oil companies made $32 billion in profit last year is stoking calls for the UK government to impose a temporary tax on their earnings to help households pay soaring energy bills.
Reporting earnings on Tuesday, BP (
BP) posted an annual profit of almost $12.9 billion. Shell (
RDSA) reported a profit of $19.3 billion last week after what it described as a “momentous” year.
Profits at both companies have been boosted by a huge rebound in oil and natural gas prices after they collapsed at the start of the pandemic. The bumper earnings have allowed them to accelerate investments in
lower carbon and
renewable energy projects while also handing billions of dollars to investors in the form of dividends and share buybacks.
Between them, BP and Shell spent $7.7 billion buying back shares last year, and the windfall for investors looks set to continue.
BP said it expected to be able to deliver share buybacks of $4 billion per year, while Shell announced plans to hand back $8.5 billion to shareholders in the first half of 2022, including proceeds from last year’s sale of its assets in the Permian Basin in the United States.
The huge profits coincide with the announcement that energy bills for most UK households will rise by 54% in April, fueling a cost-of-living crisis that the Bank of England has forecast will mean the biggest drop in disposable incomes in decades.
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