Shell reported one of the largest profits in UK corporate history, the biggest in its 115-year history, with the oil company’s annual takings to $40bn (£32bn).
Shell posted profits of almost $10bn in the final quarter of last year, taking its annual adjusted profits to $40bn in 2022, far outstripping the $19bn notched up in 2021.
Shell also announced a boost in payouts to shareholders, with a 15% increase in the final quarter dividend to $6.3bn, as weel as a $4bn of share buybacks over the next three months.
In total, Shell distributed $26bn to shareholders in 2022.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said the profits were “obscene” and “an insult to working families... As households up and down Britain struggle to pay their bills and make ends meet, Shell are enjoying a cash bonanza...Instead of holding down the pay of paramedics, teachers, firefighters and millions of other hard-pressed public servants, ministers should be making big 0il and gas pay their fair share.”
Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said: “People have every right to be outraged at the enormous profits that Shell has made in the midst of an energy affordability crisis that has pushed millions of families into poverty.”
Greenpeace UK senior climate justice campaigner Elena Polisano said: “World leaders have just set up a new fund to pay for the loss and damage caused by the climate crisis. Now they should force historical mega-polluters like Shell to pay into it.”
Shell has also been accused of overstating how much it is spending on renewable energy. The firm spent $12bn on oil and gas projects, compared with $3.5bn on its renewable energy division.
Calls for bigger windfall tax after Shell makes ‘obscene’ $40bn profit | Shell | The Guardian
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