Shell marks highest profit in company’s 115-year history despite prices remaining high
Misty Severi
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The gas company Shell had a record-breaking year in 2022. It raked in nearly $40 billion in profits despite a global surge in oil and gas prices, the company announced Thursday.
The British giant’s earnings doubled that of 2021 and surpassed its previous record of $31 billion in 2008. The company’s fourth quarter also saw strong earnings at $9.8 billion, surpassing the $8 billion predicted.
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“The company is in very good health,” Shell CEO Wael Sawan told reporters. “We have absolutely the right strategy, and my core focus over the coming decade is to make sure that I can support the company as we operationalize strategy.”
The earnings are the largest in the company’s 115-year history.
The drastic increase in profit was largely driven by the company’s success in its gas trading business. However, the numbers come as the world faces an increase in oil and gas prices and high inflation spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.
British lawmakers have slammed the profits, calling for higher taxes on oil and gas corporations as average households in the United States and the United Kingdom witness major increases in the costs of living. Labour Party lawmakers have urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to raise its windfall taxes on the energy sector.
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“The government is letting the fossil fuel companies making bumper profits off the hook with their refusal to implement a proper windfall tax,” Labour’s climate policy spokesman, Ed Miliband, told Reuters.
Other large-scale energy companies have also seen an increase in profits this week. ExxonMobil broke its record with $56 billion in net profit for 2022, and Chevron Corp posted a profit of $36.5 billion for 2022. That’s more than double what it made in 2021.