Shell profits soar to $9.1bn amid calls for windfall tax

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05.05.2022 - 10:11

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theguardian.com:

Shell has reported a record quarterly profit of $9.1bn for the first three months of the year, piling more pressure on the government to implement a windfall tax to fund measures to tackle soaring household energy bills.

The first-quarter profit was boosted by a sharp rise in oil and gas prices, and compared with $6.3bn of profits in the final three months of 2021 and $3.2bn during the first quarter of last year. It was above analysts’ expectations of first-quarter adjusted earnings of $8.7bn.

Campaigners have called for a one-off levy on companies benefitting from soaring oil and gas prices to fund government initiatives to reduce the burden of rising bills.

Shell said it had taken a $3.9bn hit after it ditched its Russian investments after the invasion of Ukraine in February.

The UK oil firm is negotiating an exit from the huge Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas project north of Japan, in which it has a 27.5% stake. It is also divesting Nord Stream 2, a venture with the Russian gas company Gazprom.

Shell’s update comes after BP reported its highest quarterly profit in more than a decade on Tuesday. Its profits more than doubled to $6.2bn, and sparked a clamour for a windfall tax.

The government has resisted calls for such a levy. Boris Johnson has said it would discourage oil and gas producers from making investments into domestic energy.

But BP’s chief executive, Bernard Looney, has admitted none of the £18bn UK investments the company is planning would be dropped if a windfall tax were imposed.