PROFITS at Shell fell back sharply last year from Ukraine war-boosted record levels, but the UK's biggest energy firm stoked fresh controversy today with another bumper payout for investors.
The £159 billion company reported a 54% tumble in profits attributable to $19.4 billion (£15.3 billion). The drop came as the wave of turbulence in oil and gas markets, caused by Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, rippled out of Shell's numbers.
Earnings from its upstream division, which identifies and extracts oil and gas supplies, fell 47% for 2023 to $8.5 billion from last year's record, but rose 10% for the fourth quarter to $1.4 billion.
It was enough for a fresh payday for investors, via a new share buyback worth £2.8 billion. That stoked more accusations of profiteering and renewed complaints over a perceived move back towards traditional fossil fuel sources and a pivot away from the development of new, renewable energy.
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