BP boasts BIGGEST profits in eight years: British oil giant records £9.5BILLION gains while public suffers sky-high fuel bills and cost-of-living crisis - as calls grow for windfall tax on energy firms.
- Oil giant BP has revealed it swung to a mammoth £9.5 billion underlying replacement cost profit for 2021
- It notched up £3.01 billion of profits in the final three months alone, up from just £85.1 million a year earlier
- The results will intensify pressure as households and businesses are struggling due to soaring inflation. Mail.
Oil giant BP has posted its highest annual profit in eight years and announced more returns for shareholders - as ordinary Britons prepare to endure soaring energy bills amid rampant inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.
BP revealed it swung to a mammoth £9.5 billion underlying replacement cost profit – its preferred measure – for 2021 from losses of £4.2 billion the previous year. It notched up £3.01 billion of profits in the final three months alone, which was better than expected and up from just £85.1 million a year earlier.
BP also announced more cash returns for shareholders, with another £1.1 billion of share buybacks before its first-quarter 2022 results and a dividend payout of 3.37p a share for the fourth quarter.
The group recovered from a torrid 2020, when the pandemic sent it slumping £13.4 billion into the red on a statutory basis – its biggest ever annual loss.
Oil and gas prices have since rebounded as economies worldwide reopened following the early stages of the pandemic, but the results will intensify pressure on oil firms as they reap mammoth profit hauls while households and businesses face struggling to pay energy bills due to soaring inflation.
A sharp rise in wholesale gas prices has led to energy regulator Ofgem raising the cap that limits what suppliers can charge consumers in England, Scotland and Wales by £693 to £1,971 a year from April - with a further hike expected in October.
Britons also face other demands on their income, including rising food, broadband and mobile phone costs as inflation rising to a 30-year high, while the Bank of England forecasts it will hit 7.25 per cent in April.
Calls are now growing for a windfall tax on energy giants, with Labour MPs arguing that while households are paying through their teeth for gas – energy bills are set to spike more than 50% in April – the companies which extract that gas are reporting massive profits.
Supporters of the tax believe some of this money should be reclaimed to help struggling households cope with the rise.
Oil giant BP has posted its highest annual profit in eight years amid mounting pressure on the sector as the cost-of-living crisis deepens (Andrew Milligan/PA)
The Bank of England pushed interest rates to 0.5 per cent to control rampant inflation, which it now believes will reach 7.25 per cent in April and act like a lead weight on the economy, as well as pushing up unemployment
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