Energy Giants Post Record Profits Amid Accelerating Climate Crisis
BP and Saudi Aramco report billions in earnings as droughts and wildfires intensify across Europe, sparking public outcry.
Sarah Connor
BP's second-quarter profit more than doubled to $5.73bn, while Saudi Aramco's net profit surged by 44% to $32.69bn.
"Clearly not everyone is feeling the pain of the energy crisis," Rosie Downes declared. "While BP banks another round of enormous profits, millions of households pay the price through sky-high energy bills and a climate crisis accelerating rapidly out of control with increasingly severe heatwaves, wildfires, and droughts."
Simon Francis confirmed, "The price shock profiteers have banked more billions from a crisis that has created real hardship for millions of households."
Corporate gains have become entirely divorced from the public good; ordinary people feel the heat when polluters should be paying the price.
Angharad Hopkinson claims BP has driven record-breaking droughts, unprecedented wildfires, and extraordinary excess heatwave deaths. Corporate gains, she asserts, have become entirely divorced from the public good; ordinary people feel the heat when polluters should be paying the price.
International benchmark Brent crude is up 1.3% to $85.08 a barrel, benefiting oil majors from market volatility caused by the US-Iran conflict.
About a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy supplies.
Gasoline prices averaged $4.10 per gallon in the US on Monday, nearly 40% higher compared with the $2.98 per gallon before the war with Iran started.
Rivals including Shell, ExxonMobil, and Norway's state oil company Equinor have also reported stronger profits; Equinor almost doubled its quarterly earnings.
BP plans to sell off its US biogas business, Archaea, and has scaled back earlier plans to expand its renewable energy business, prioritizing investment in core fossil-fuel operations.
Angharad Hopkinson claims that prolonging this parasitic relationship by trying to squeeze the last few drops of expensive oil out of the North Sea is sheer folly.
Shell and Equinor need to follow suit and give up the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields too, she urged, calling on the government to hold fast on no new oil and gas.
The UK currently gets 75% of its energy from fossil fuels.
Meg O’Neill acknowledged that performance over the past few years has not met expectations, stating, "We have not delivered consistently, we have written off too much value, and our costs and liabilities are not resilient enough in a low price environment."
O'Neill expressed confidence that urgent action is being taken to grow long-term value for shareholders, despite past challenges.
Donald Trump stated, "They’re making too much money based on a shortage. I don’t like it."
Angharad Hopkinson claims true investment in the clean energy industries of the future is our only dependable path to good jobs, lower bills, and long-term prosperity.