March 25, 2023

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The oil giant records record annual profits

Shell said last month that unexpected taxes imposed by the European Union and the United Kingdom in the wake of the profit increase would cost the group about $2 billion.

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British oil giant shell On Thursday, it posted its highest annual profit on record, buoyed by skyrocketing fossil fuel prices and strong demand since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine last year.

Shell reported adjusted earnings of $39.9 billion for the full year 2022. That comfortably exceeds the $28.4 billion in 2008 which Shell said was the company’s previous annual record and is more than double the company’s 2021 earnings for the full year of 2021. $19.29 billion.

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Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected 2022 net profit to be $38.3 billion.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, Shell reported adjusted earnings of $9.8 Billion.

Shell announced a $4 billion share buyback program, which is expected to be completed by first-quarter 2023 results — due in early May — and an earnings per share increase of 15% for the fourth quarter.

“Our results in the fourth quarter and throughout the full year demonstrate the strength of Shell’s differentiated portfolio, as well as our ability to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world,” said Wael Sawan, Shell CEO, in his first earnings release since assuming the chairmanship of Shell. turn on January 1.

He added, “We believe Shell is well positioned to be the trusted partner through the energy transition. As we continue to put our Powering Progress strategy into action, we will build on our core strengths, further streamline the organization, and focus on performance.” .

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Shell said its cash capital expenditure forecast for 2023 ranges between $23 billion and $27 billion.

The results follow in the footsteps of the major US oil companies’ historic annual earnings Exxon Mobil And chevronas the largest oil and gas companies in the West are expected to reap a combined profit of Almost 200 billion dollars for the year according to Refinitiv data.

The extraordinary scale of the industry’s profits has renewed criticism and prompted calls for a windfall dividend tax on big oil.

shell He said Last month, it projected it would reach $2 billion for the last three months of 2022 as a result of new taxes in the EU and UK.

Shares of the London-listed company are up about 1% since the start of the year.

“power trilogy”

Shell, which aims to become a carbon-neutral company by 2050, said adjusted earnings for its renewable energy solutions unit were $293 million for the last three months of 2022, down from $383 million in the third quarter.

In recent quarters, Big Oil executives have defended their rising earnings and said the significant turmoil in global energy markets due to the war in Ukraine has reaffirmed the importance of helping solve the “triple energy crisis”.

According to a statement from BP CEO Bernard Looney late last year, this stands for “safe, affordable, low-carbon energy.”

Climate activists and activist contributors have been highly critical.

“We should all advocate profiteering like this,” He said Alice Harrison, Fossil Fuels Campaign Leader at advocacy group Global Witness.

Harrison called the energy giants’ historic revenues “disgraceful”, given that “much of this money is being made at the expense of millions of people pushed into poverty by the high cost of gas.”

US oil giant Exxon Mobil on Tuesday mentioned $ 56 billion in profit for 2022, marking a historic high for the western oil industry, while Chevron on Friday Spread A record profit of $36.5 billion from last year.

The major British oil company BP It is scheduled to report full-year earnings on February 7, with France Total energy It is set to follow on February 8th.