'No version of these figures look even remotely fair': Shell criticised over bumper earnings haul
Shell has revealed quarterly earnings nearly doubled as it continued to capitalise on soaring oil prices caused by the Iran war.
The FTSE 100 oil giant reported a better-than-expected underlying earnings haul of 10.81 billion US dollars (£8.12 billion) for the three months to September 30, up from 5.43 billion dollars (£4.08 billion) a year earlier.
It unveiled plans to further boost returns for shareholders after the profit jump, with another five billion US dollars (£3.75 billion) in share buybacks before the year-end, sending its shares 3% higher on Thursday morning.
Campaigners criticised the profit haul, which comes at a time when households and motorists are suffering painful rises in fuel costs and knock-on inflation caused by the conflict.
Chancellor John Healey chose not to increase windfall taxes on oil and gas firms in Wednesday’s budget despite calls from some to tap into the sector’s mammoth profits to help pay for household energy support.
Shell said adjusted earnings at its chemicals and products unit – including its oil trading business – soared even higher, reaching 3.86 billion dollars (£2.9 billion) in the third quarter, against just 550 million dollars (£412.9 million) a year ago.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has seen oil prices surge past 100 dollars a barrel with no sign of an end to the war or the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping route.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Wael Sawan, chief executive of Shell, said: “Shell’s relentless focus on operational performance enabled very strong results in a quarter with continued severe disruption to the global energy system.”
Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, took aim at the group, saying: “There is no version of these figures which look even remotely fair.
“Shell earns more in sixty seconds than most people in this country manage in twelve months.”
Shell’s chief financial officer, Sinead Gorman, told reporters on a call after the results the group was still digesting the autumn budget and its implications, but insisted a “stable and predictable tax policy” was vital for the firm.
She added Shell’s global tax rate stood at 39% worldwide.
Ms Gorman also welcomed the Government’s recent move to approve the Jackdaw gas field project and urged the Energy Secretary to give the green light to the Rosebank oil and gas field – which is part-owned by Shell.
She insisted the project’s go-ahead would “generate tax revenues and support jobs” in the UK.
But environmental groups warned over the climate impact of Rosebank.
Danny Gross, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The decision on the Rosebank oil field, which is part-owned by Shell, will be a defining climate test for Andy Burnham’s Government.
“Rosebank would be a far bigger climate bomb than the recently approved Jackdaw gas project, and won’t improve energy security as most of the oil would be exported.”
Greenpeace senior campaigner Philip Evans added: “Approving Rosebank would only deepen this injustice – handing billions more to Shell while trapping us deeper into the doom loop of climate breakdown.
“The Government must find its spine, end this dark era of fossil fuel impunity, and tax these companies for the untold damage they’re inflicting.”