Shell sparked fury after announcing record profits as their earnings rocketed by 53 per cent in 2022 due to soaring oil and gas prices.
The energy giant revealed that its core profits ballooned to a record £68.1 bn in 2023, the highest in its 115-year history, as the war in Ukraine sent energy prices spiralling. Environmentalists, trade union leaders and politicians condemned Shell’s “outrageous” bumper profits as a “windfall” of the war while millions of Britons grappled with sky-high gas and electricity bills during the cost of living crisis.
Adjusted earnings, including taxes, more than doubled to £32.2 bn, with the final quarter profits in 2022 hitting an all-time high of £7.9 bn. Shell chief executive, Wael Sawan, said its results showed “the strength of Shell’s differentiated portfolio, as well as our capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world”.
The company has increased its shareholders’ dividend payouts to 15 per cent on the back of the announcement, with its profits catapulted by booming LNG sales. Davey said: “No company should be making these kinds of outrageous profits out of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. “Rishi Sunak was warned as chancellor and now as Prime Minister that we need a proper windfall tax on companies like Shell and he has failed to take action.”
Shell said it paid £1.5 bn in windfall tax charges to the UK and EU. Motorists saw the cost of filling up their tanks hit record levels last year as the war in Ukraine sent the price of oil spiking. By last June, the average cost of a litre of petrol hit 191.25p, with the average price of a litre of diesel reaching 199.02p.