Outrage As Oil Firms Rake In Huge Profits While Bills Soar

BP accused of 'unfettered profiteering' as profits triple in three months to £7bn

- Jasper Jolly and Mark Sweney

Bumper profits of nearly £50bn shared by the world's five biggest oil companies prompted a chorus of calls for higher taxes on the sector as UK households were told to brace for average annual energy bills of more than £3,600 this winter.

The UK firm BP was accused of "unfettered profiteering" after it said yesterday that underlying profits had tripled to $8.5bn (£6.9bn) between April and June, thanks to high oil prices. It was its biggest quarterly profit in 14 years and BP said it would hand out nearly £4bn to shareholders as a result.

Prices have soared amid fears over supplies of energy caused in part by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Oil companies in the UK and beyond have enjoyed booming earnings in recent months on the back of those rising energy prices as households around the world have struggled with soaring bills.

Rachel Reeves, Labour's shadow chancellor, said the "eye-watering profits" showed that the government was "totally wrong" to have given significant tax breaks to oil companies.

A host of MPs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party, as well as environmental campaigners, called for a higher windfall tax on oil companies. The profits bonanza in the second quarter included a record $11.5bn profit for BP's FTSE 100 rival Shell, record profits of $17.6bn and $11.6bn respectively for the US's ExxonMobil and Chevron, plus $9.8bn for France's Total. In the first six months of the year the companies made combined adjusted profits of nearly $100bn.

As Russia's invasion grinds on, the research firm Cornwall Insight predicted the energy price cap on annual bills in Great Britain was on track to rise to £3,615 a year from January. That was an increase on its previous estimate of £3,363 made last month.