Shell announces highest profit in 115 years

Oil and gas giant Shell continues to profit from rising energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The company announced that its profits reached $39.9 billion in 2022, breaking the record in its 115-year history.

The performance of Shell, headquartered in the Netherlands and England, whose profits have almost doubled in the last year, exceeded market expectations in the last three months of the year.

The company’s record of $28.4 billion in 2008 was thus broken.

In addition, Shell, which said that it paid $ 6.3 billion to its shareholders in the last three months of 2022, stated that it plans to buy back shares of $ 4 billion.

“The company has proven the strength of its portfolio that can adapt to change and its capacity to energize customers in a volatile world,” said Wael Sawan, Shell CEO.

Energy prices in the world started to rise slowly after Covid-19, but in March last year, this rise accelerated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Many energy companies have benefited from this rise.

During this period, the price of brent crude oil rose to about $128 per barrel and then declined to $83.

Gas prices also rose.

US-based energy company ExxonMobil also reported a profit of $55.7 billion in 2022.

British company BP and French TotalEnergies are expected to announce their profits next week.

In the same period, when the rising food prices and the rise in energy were brought together, there was an increase in inflation in the region.

Inflation in the UK reached 11% in November, breaking the record of the last 40 years.

It is reported that in many parts of Europe, people have difficulty paying their energy bills and cannot heat their homes.

Pressure is mounting for energy companies to pay more taxes.

Various new tax practices were introduced in the European Union (EU) countries and the UK last year, but there were criticisms that they were insufficient.

Shell said it expects to pay an additional $2.3 billion in taxes on 2022 earnings.

Ed Miliband, climate change spokesman for the main opposition Labor Party in the UK, said: “While energy prices are expected to rise by 40 percent in April, the government is not enforcing adequate taxation and is allowing fossil fuel companies to get away with making high profits.”

Lawsuits against Shell

On the other hand, a report in the Financial Times newspaper states that more than 11,000 people living in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta have filed a lawsuit against Shell in the Supreme Court in London.

Local residents argue that oil spills from Shell’s operations have polluted drinking water, deteriorated air quality and destroyed farmland and fish stocks.

In 2015, another similar case was initiated by the Bille community in Nigeria.

These cases, which are expected to appear in court next year, are the latest in a series of lawsuits brought against Shell for its environmental track record in Nigeria.

Shell played a central role in the development of Nigeria’s oil industry, establishing the first oil venture in Nigeria in 1936 and opening its first successful facility in Oloibiri, about 100 kilometers west of Ogale, in 1956.