British oil and gas giant Shell announced on Thursday that it had made a record annual profit in 2022, totaling 42.3 billion pounds, more than doubling over a year, boosted by high oil prices.
Like other oil majors, Shell saw its results boosted by the rebound in demand, which had fallen during the Covid-19 pandemic, and by the drop in Russian exports in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Shell's spectacular results follow those of its American rivals.
ExxonMobil reported record 2022 profit of $55.7 billion on Wednesday, and Chevron last week posted annual net profit more than doubled to $35.5 billion.
Shell's adjusted net profit (ie excluding exceptional items), the ratio most followed by analysts, stood at 39.9 billion dollars.
Its turnover increased by 46% to 381.3 billion dollars.
The "
major
oil and gas company posts its highest annual profit ever, a spokeswoman for the group told AFP, which is also launching a $ 4 billion share buyback program as well as a 15% increase dividend for the fourth quarter of last year.
In total, Shell distributes $ 26 billion to its shareholders for 2022: investors applaud, and the group's action climbed 1.99% to 2,413.50 pence Thursday shortly before 09:00 GMT.
Give “vital energy to our customers”
These results "
demonstrate the strength of Shell's differentiated portfolio, as well as our ability to provide vital energy to our customers in an unstable world
," said new chief executive Wael Sawan, who replaced Ben van Beurden, in a statement. January 1st.
The group, which had been forced to spend billions of dollars in asset write-downs during the pandemic, had however already unveiled impressive profits for 2021, at $20.1 billion.
“Climate destruction”
It is possible that Mr. Sawan, a former director of renewables at Shell, “
gives extra attention to the transition
” energy of the group, according to Richard Hunter, analyst of Interactive Investor.
But in the meantime "
the renewable energy market is complicated
" with "
unproven or simply unprofitable technologies that make progress difficult
", continues the analyst, who notes that Shell shows a loss of 1.06 billion dollars for last year in this segment.
The efforts are too timid for environmental organizations, which denounce these record profits and call for the oil giants to contribute more to the climate emergency.
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"
Shell profits from the destruction of the climate and the immense human suffering
", denounced in a press release Elena Polisano, of Greenpeace UK, whose activists were demonstrating Thursday morning in front of the group's headquarters in London.
The NGO also indicates that four of its activists have climbed onto a Shell platform near the Canary Islands, and believes that world leaders "
should force historic mega-polluters to feed
" a fund "
for the losses and damage caused by the climate crisis
”.
The British government introduced in May, then increased at the end of the year to 35%, a tax on exceptional energy profits, just like the EU which adopted a “
temporary solidarity contribution
” at the end of September .
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But for the environmental NGO Friends of the Earth, we must go even further in taxation, while it is "
simply amazing
" to see such profits in the midst of a crisis in the cost of living, which sees "
millions of people faced with the impossible choice of putting food on the table or heating their homes
.