London The British energy group BP achieved the second best result in its history in the third quarter. The company’s net income rose to $8.15 billion, up 2.5 times from a year ago. Analysts had expected earnings of around $6 billion. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, BP earned a total of $22.8 billion.
The company rounds off a reporting period in which all global energy companies from Saudi Aramco to ExxonMobil to Total and Shell have recorded enormous profit increases. The Saudi group Saudi Aramco alone earned around 42 billion euros in the third quarter.
The reason for the record profits of the energy companies are the sharp rise in gas and oil prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. That is why politicians are now putting pressure on the corporations to deal responsibly with their profits.
US President Joe Biden spoke of “war gains” on Monday evening. He called on the corporations to pass on the profits to their customers – and threatened an excess profit tax. The idea of the instrument is that those who profit from the crisis have to pay higher taxes.
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According to media reports, the British government is already considering expanding the “windfall tax” that has been in place since May. At that time, a tax surcharge of 25 percent on profits from oil and gas activities off the British coast was approved. The government in London is hoping for additional tax revenue equivalent to 5.75 billion euros. However, companies can drastically reduce their tax burden by investing in oil and gas production.
BP shares are up 45 percent year-to-date
BP expects to pay around $2.5 billion in taxes on its North Sea operations this year. Around $800 million of that is to be accounted for by the excess profit tax. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden showed his understanding last week for demands for additional taxes for energy companies.
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The jump in profits is mainly due to the “extraordinarily” good result in the gas business, BP said. “We deliver the oil and gas the world needs today while investing to accelerate the energy transition,” said CEO Bernard Looney.
At BP, it is primarily the shareholders who will benefit from the top results. The company plans to buy back an additional $2.5 billion of stock. This brings the buyback volume this year to a total of $8.5 billion. The company also increased dividends by 10 percent in July. BP stock is up about 45 percent this year.
At the same time, the group is increasing its investments in the production of non-fossil fuels. Last month, BP acquired biogas producer Archaea Energy for a good four billion dollars. The group has set itself the goal of becoming emission-free by 2050. “Our agreement with Archaea Energy is the latest step in our strategic transformation of BP,” said Looney.
More: Shell doubles profits – consumers suffer from high prices
