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Kate Plummer
Feb 02, 2023
Shell announces record annual profits of £32.2bn
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Oil and gas giant Shell has reported record annual profits during the energy crisis which isn't great optics.
Profits hit $39.9bn (£32.2bn) in 2022, double last year's total and the highest in its 115-year history with prices increasing due to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The profit announcement comes as people struggle to pay for their household bills.
A household using a typical amount of energy will pay £2,500 a year, and this is due to rise to £3,000 in April and government support to pay will come to an end this year.
Meanwhile, the news also comes after Shell was criticised in October when it said it had paid no UK windfall tax up to that point. Last month, the company said it expected to pay about $2bn of its earnings for the final quarter of 2022 as a result of windfall taxes in the UK and EU.
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With all that in mind, here's how people reacted:
\u201cWe are being cooked , choked and taken to the cleaners . . . if we ever become anyone\u2019s ancestors they will ask \u2018what the hell were those mugs doing ? They stood by and let them burn the world\u2019 . . . Shell reports highest profits in 115 years https://t.co/lPtOatd875\u201d— Chris Packham (@Chris Packham) 1675323628
\u201cShell has just reported its highest profits in its 115 year history.\n\nThey made \u00a332.2 billion in profit in 2022.\n\nYour gas bill has doubled in a year. Shell\u2019s wholesale costs are lower today than this time last year.\n\nA rip off.\u201d— Howard Beckett (@Howard Beckett) 1675325689
\u201cThe #Shell profits are obscene. They get a lot more obscene when you read this devastating report alongside them https://t.co/VCaAUhxSx2\u201d— Ramzy Alwakeel (@Ramzy Alwakeel) 1675327739
\u201cIs it a coincidence that our energy bills have tripled & that energy company profits have trebled?\nWhose had enough of this? https://t.co/nAxKfe2dwa\u201d— nazir afzal (@nazir afzal) 1675326559
\u201cOil giant Shell have announced profits of \u00a332.2bn, with the Ukraine war being a major factor in this. To get so close to \u00a340bn and then miss out is a tragedy, so I have decided to set up a GoFundMe for them.\u201d— Simon Harris - Man Behaving Dadly (THAT\u2019S DADLY) (@Simon Harris - Man Behaving Dadly (THAT\u2019S DADLY)) 1675327183
\u201chttps://t.co/7MdkVEFoFR\nAmid news reports of people struggling to pay energy bills, Shell announces record annual profits of nearly $40bn. That\u2019s more than double $19.3bn S reported in 2021 & breaks the previous $31bn record the oil & gas giant set in 2008\u201d— Beth Rigby (@Beth Rigby) 1675325582
\u201cNEW: Energy giant Shell reports record profits of $40bn. That has doubled, largely as a result of the surge in energy prices following Russia\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine. \n\nAnd when it\u2019s a record for Shell, that really means something- the company has existed for 115 years.\u201d— Lewis Goodall (@Lewis Goodall) 1675323544
\u201c.@Shell are climate criminals - polluting our planet & escaping with its highest profits *ever*. Yet our Govt is their accomplice \u2013 locking in more climate-wrecking fossil fuels & handing over a gas giveaway. For a liveable future, we must kick out fossil fuels for good\u201d— Caroline Lucas (@Caroline Lucas) 1675324346
\u201cAs the British people face an energy price hike of 40% in April, Rishi Sunak is letting the fossil fuel companies making bumper profits off the hook with his refusal to do a proper windfall tax.\n\nLabour would stop the energy price cap going up in April. \n\nhttps://t.co/nrTefXgR3g\u201d— Ed Miliband (@Ed Miliband) 1675323663
\u201c\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: Shell announces a record \u00a332billion in profits from 2022.\n\nThat's double what they made in 2021\u203c\ufe0f \n\nAs people continue to struggle with soaring #energybills, companies like @Shell continue to profit from their misery.\n\n#CostOfLivingCrisis #EnergyCrisis #ClimateCrisis\u201d— Paid to Pollute (@Paid to Pollute) 1675323488
\u201cNEW: Shell posts record profits - while families worry about another price spike.\n\nThe government must bring in a proper windfall tax on energy giants - to stop the energy price cap going up in April.\n\nOnly Labour will keep bills low now and in the future.\nhttps://t.co/j2AyTuHPuI\u201d— Rachel Reeves (@Rachel Reeves) 1675322513
\u201cShell just reported record profits of \u00a332,000,000,000\n\nSuch outrageous profits are why your bills are so high.\n\nWe need to hike the Windfall Tax so North Sea oil and gas giants don't make a single penny in excess profits off the back of higher energy bills for ordinary people.\u201d— Richard Burgon MP (@Richard Burgon MP) 1675326507
Dorothy Guerrero, Head of Policy, Global Justice Now said: “It’s sickening to see that in a year where people can’t afford to heat their homes because of rising energy bills, Shell is announcing record annual profits of $39.9bn.
"As thousands of people went out to the streets yesterday to protest and strike against low pay and the rising cost of living, oil giants like Shell are lining the pockets of shareholders with profits made from a global energy crisis. These profits are made off the destruction of our planet and there are communities all over the world who are already paying the price for that right now. It’s time to bring in a polluters tax, end this facade and finally make them properly pay up for their climate-wrecking damages.”
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