Greenpeace urges ministers to “tax every penny” of Big Oil’s war windfall
The five largest North Sea oil and gas companies have received a staggering £73 billion boost to the value of their shares in the month since the first US-Israeli attacks on Iran, new analysis by Greenpeace UK shows.
The sharp rise in the value of their stocks means fossil fuel producers are now expecting a huge “war windfall”, prompting campaigners to call for a strengthening of the windfall tax.
One month of Donald Trump’s illegal war in Iran has resulted in death and destruction and turmoil in global energy markets, pushing up UK petrol prices and threatening higher bills and inflation. At the same time, the sudden spike in oil and gas prices has led to a huge increase in the market value of many fossil fuel companies.
Analysis by Greenpeace shows that in just four weeks, the combined market capitalisation of Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Equinor and Harbour Energy has jumped by £73.5 billion. Shell and Equinor top the list, with each company’s total market value soaring by around £20 billion and Shell’s share price hitting an all-time high last week.
The market shock from the conflict in the Middle East is set to deliver a multi-billion-pound boost to oil giants’ profits. Despite this, the industry has been lobbying ministers to scrap the Energy Profits Levy, the government’s main tool to tax fossil fuel firms’ unearned profits.
Shell and Equinor are also attempting to capitalise on instability in global oil and gas supply by pressuring ministers into greenlighting the controversial Rosebank oilfield. A 95,000-tonne production ship, the Petrojarl Rosebank, is currently sailing to the UK despite the companies having no permission to start production at the site.
Greenpeace is calling on the Government to resist industry pressure, reject Rosebank, strengthen the windfall tax on fossil fuel profits and champion a global profit tax on international oil companies.
Paul Morozzo, senior climate campaigner with Greenpeace UK, said:
“These oil giants are about to cash in a huge windfall from Trump’s illegal war, yet the industry is shamelessly lobbying for tax cuts. While UK households face eye-watering energy bills, fossil fuel producers are in line for a multi-billion-pound war windfall they’ve done nothing to earn. Shell and Equinor are pressuring the government to open up a major new oilfield in the North Sea – they keep making huge profits while UK households are held hostage to volatile fossil fuel markets.”
“The government must not cave in to industry lobbying but should tax every penny of these war profits. This crisis shows why we need to ramp up efforts to wean ourselves off fossil fuels by doubling down on renewables. More wind and solar can cut the UK’s reliance on gas imports much faster than issuing new North Sea licences. Renewables are our best insurance policy against the fallout from Trump and Putin’s wars – we should go all in.”
ENDS
Contact: Greenpeace UK Press Office – press.uk@greenpeace.org or 020 7865 8255
Notes for editors:
The Greenpeace analysis looked at the variation in the companies’ share prices based on FT markets data from 28 February to 25 March.