Oil giants are making an “obscene” £5,000 profit a second while households struggle to make ends meet, according to Mirror reports.
Analysts predict that the world’s biggest producers could be in line for a combined £160 billion profit bonanza on the back of sky-high energy prices.
Forecast combined profits for BP, Shell, along with US heavyweights Chevron and ExxonMobil, and France’s TotalEnergies would equate to more than £5,000 a second.
Commenting on the findings, Alice Harrison, from the group Global Witness, said: “In the midst of an acute energy affordability crisis that has forced over seven million UK homes into fuel poverty, the largest Western oil majors are anticipated to record staggering yearly profits of around £160billion.”
“Let’s not forget that these companies are richer because the rest of us are poorer.
“Brits should be asking themselves whose side their government is on? Those of us living in cold, draughty homes or an industry that’s riding the wave of the energy crisis and returning billions to its shareholders.”
“If the profits of these companies were properly taxed, our government could free up money that’s desperately needed to rebuild this country – from giving Brits adequate and long-term support with the cost of their energy bills, to giving NHS nurses on the picket lines the pay raises they deserve.”
Tessa Khan, executive director of fellow campaign group Uplift. said: “These are profits that the oil and gas industry is taking from us in higher energy and fuel bills: from pensioners, families with children, UK businesses.
“They are profiteering while British people are struggling. It’s obscene.”
Under pressure, the Government announced an increased windfall tax on North Sea producers last year.
Shell has already said it expects to pay around £1.7 billion in such taxes for the final three months of last year.
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