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Kate Plummer
Oct 27, 2022
Shell records £8bn profit as Britons face soaring bills
Indy
While the rest of us worry about the price of heating our homes, Shell has doubled its third-quarter profits.
Labour renewed calls for a windfall tax following the news, in which the energy giant recorded massive profits of £8bn.
So far this year Shell has reported £25bn in profits – more than double the amount it made over the first nine months of 2021.
And it said it had not paid the windfall tax levy, announced in May, and did not expect to throughout 2022, because its British corporate entity did not make any profits during the quarter.
Meanwhile, new chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced earlier this month that the freeze on energy prices will end in April next year despite the government previously promising the freeze would last two years.
Here's what people made of the news:
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\u201cShell made \u00a390million a day in profits during the last quarter. Fortunately we don\u2019t need to take any of it in tax because we can just cut public services instead.\u201d— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody Rishi Sunak) 1666870291
\u201cBREAKING \ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udcb0 | Shell more than doubled their profits this quarter - making \u00a38 BILLION. \n\nNo more excuses - time for a higher windfall tax on oil and gas companies.\u201d— Trades Union Congress (@Trades Union Congress) 1666860643
\u201cA proper windfall tax would raise \u00a360bn over 3 years and provide crucial relief to vulnerable households. \n\nEven the CEO of Shell has admitted it's the right thing to do.\n\nYet the Tories are forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab for their economic chaos \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\n\nhttps://t.co/tJaTe3yrG7\u201d— Helen Morgan MP \ud83d\udd36 (@Helen Morgan MP \ud83d\udd36) 1666864577
\u201cShell made \u00a38,200,000,000 in profits between July and September.\n\nWhile our energy bills have doubled, so have their profits.\n\nWe don\u2019t need more cuts to pay for this crisis. We need a proper windfall tax.\u201d— Nadia Whittome MP (@Nadia Whittome MP) 1666867298
\u201cThe Conservatives' refusal to properly tax the eye-watering profits of oil and gas companies is an insult to all those struggling with their bills.\n \nEven Shell\u2019s CEO has admitted they should be taxed more. People should not have to pick up the bill for this Tory economic chaos.\u201d— Ed Davey (@Ed Davey) 1666860502
\u201cshell\u2019s latest profit announcement of $9.5 billion for third quarter equates to $1204.97 PER SECOND\n\nevery minute of the last 3 months shell was making $72,298.25 in profit \n\nmeanwhile people are choosing between heating + eating this winter. there is something very wrong here.\u201d— Ben Smoke (@Ben Smoke) 1666859090
\u201cShell just reported profits of \u00a389 MILLION per day!\n\nSuch super-profits are why your bills are so high.\n\nWe need to hike the Windfall Tax so North Sea oil and gas giants don't make a single penny in excess profits off the back of higher energy bills for millions of people.\u201d— Richard Burgon MP (@Richard Burgon MP) 1666857840
\u201c12 years of the Tories have led to soaring costs, low growth and falling living standards.\n\nAnd yet despite this and booming oil profits, they still refuse to accept Labour\u2019s plan for a proper windfall tax on energy producers to help foot the bill.\nhttps://t.co/ZYqbmXEmQf\u201d— Rachel Reeves (@Rachel Reeves) 1666853487
\u201cUK Shell Oil have just this minute announced a further doubling of their profits.\n\n\u00a38bn profits in just 13 weeks. A profit rate of \u00a33.6 million every hour.\n\nWe are being ripped off.\u201d— Howard Beckett (@Howard Beckett) 1666852727
\u201cShell makes \u00a33.7 million in profit every hour.\n\nIn the UK, 10 people die in poverty every hour.\n\nAnyone else find this disgusting?\u201d— Greenpeace UK (@Greenpeace UK) 1666868731
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition described the outlook as “frankly terrifying” and urged the government to focus on a new package of support and energy market reforms, alongside investment in home insulation and renewables.
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