Activists from Greenpeace set up a mock-petrol station price board displaying the Shell’s net profit for 2022, as they demonstrate outside the company’s headquarters in London on February 2, 2023, as the British energy company announce their full-year results. – Shell net profit surged to a record $42.3 billion last year, the British energy giant said Thursday, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring.
Colossal profits for energy majors have sparked public fury amid a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by sky-high energy bills. “Our results in the fourth quarter and across the full year demonstrate the strength of Shell’s differentiated portfolio, as well as our capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world,” new chief executive Wael Sawan said in the results statement.
Shell rival BP said on Monday while a worldwide transition away from fossil fuels could be accelerated by the Ukraine-Russia war, it added in a report that “oil continues to play a major role in the global energy system for the next 15-20 years”.Russia is a major producer of fossil fuels and the war resulted in slashed supplies.
The president’s intervention came after a White House spokesperson told the BBC that Exxon’s record profits were “outrageous”, especially after “the American people were forced to pay such high prices at the pump” in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.