Shell announces record profits of £68BILLION after energy bills skyrocketed following Ukraine war

Shell announces record profits of £68BILLION after energy bills skyrocketed following Ukraine war
Anna Gowthorpe
Dan Falvey

By Dan Falvey


Published: 02/02/2023

- 07:29

Updated: 02/02/2023

- 08:02

Household energy bills have surged to £2,500 a year since the war broke out

Energy giant Shell has reported record profits after oil prices soared following Russia's Ukraine invasion.

Profits increased 53 per cent to £68billion in 2022. Adjusted earnings, including taxes, more than doubled to £32.2 billion.


The profits are the highest in the gas and oil firm's 15-year history and were higher than the estimates of industry experts.

File photo dated 03/02/22 of an online energy bill. The crisis that defined 2022 for many Britons started a few days early for utilities expert Martin Young, as he stared at his computer screen at a new figure that had popped up. Plugging gas and electricity prices into a formula he had designed in December 2021, Mr Young saw before almost anyone else that the average energy bill would reach a massive new record in the new year. Issue date: Monday December 26, 2022.
Energy bills have surged for households since the Ukraine invasion
Jacob King

Shell chief executive Wael Sawan said the results "demonstrate the strength of Shell’s differentiated portfolio, as well as our capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world".

He added: “We believe that Shell is well positioned to be the trusted partner through the energy transition."

Shareholders at the company are to be rewarded for the results with a15 per cent dividend increase and a four-billion-dollar share buyback programme.

The high profit margin has led to large pressure for increased taxes on energy providers.

Oil and gas prices rapidly rose in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 with households seeing their bills explode as a result.

Average annual energy bills were about £1,250 in the winter of 2021-22 but the typical household now pays about £2,500 a year. The cost is set to rise again to £3,000 a year from April.

The Government introduced a windfall tax - a one off levy on profits - last year in order to hep subsidies the costs of household energy bills.

Opposition politicians have accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of not doing enough to help families across the country.

Labour's Ed Miliband said this morning: "As the British people face an energy price hike of 40 per cent 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.

Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero Ed Miliband gives a television interview outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, before appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday Morning. Picture date: Sunday May 15, 2022.
Ed Miliband has demanded action from the Government.
Dominic Lipinski

"Labour would stop the energy price cap going up in April."

Meanwhile Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “No company should be making these kind of outrageous profits out of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“Rishi Sunak was warned as chancellor and now as Prime Minister that we need a proper windfall tax on companies like Shell and he has failed to take action.

“Families across the country are struggling to heat their homes and feed their families and this Government turns round and says ‘there is nothing we can do’."

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