Shell reports a 14-fold increase in profits

Shell’s boss hailed 2021 as a momentous year while MPs called for a windfall tax on oil and gas producers

Shell has reported a 14-fold increase in quarterly profits amid soaring energy prices.

Presenting its full-year results on the same day Ofgem announced its new price cap that will affect millions of households across the UK, the energy giant said it delivered more than $55 billion (£40.5bn) of cash flow from operations.

The company’s adjusted earnings for 2021 were around $19.3 billion (£14.2bn).

Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer at Shell, said: “2021 was a momentous year for Shell. We launched our Power Progress strategy with the customer at its core, we simplified our organisation and share structure and provided significant shareholder distributions, all while investing in the energy transition.

“We also delivered a strong financial performance, maintained our capital discipline and resilience. We are stepping up our shareholder distributions, with an $8.5 billion (£6.2bn) share buyback programme and we expect to increase our dividend per share by around 4% for the first quarter of 2022.”

In the meantime, in the House of Commons, some MPs questioned whether oil companies should be hit with a windfall tax.

Nick Smith, Labour MP for Blaenau Gwent, said: “Does he (Chancellor) really think that the super-profits of $20 billion (£14.7bn) made by Shell are untouchable?

“His hands-off approach won’t persuade many people across our country.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak dismissed the proposed measure of a windfall tax.

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