A leap in profits at BP on the back of the Middle East war has prompted fresh criticism of oil giants, as households continue to face rising energy bills
Oil giant BP has been slammed after it announced profits more than doubled, while the UK is in the grip of a drought and households are reeling from sky high energy bills.
The industry heavyweight announced it raked in £4.2billion in the space of just three months – its biggest quarterly haul since 2022 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – boosted by a leap in wholesale oil and gas prices on the back of the Middle East war. Climate campaigners say windfalls for BP and other energy firms come as large parts of the world are battling extreme temperatures, as they criticise fossil fuel firms for being part of the problem.
Rosie Downes, Friends of the Earth’s head of campaigns, said: “Clearly not everyone is feeling the pain of the energy crisis. While BP banks another round of enormous profits, millions of households are paying the price through sky-high energy bills and a climate crisis accelerating rapidly out of control with increasingly severe heatwaves, wildfires and droughts. The only way to protect people from soaring bills and climate chaos is to break our dependence on costly and polluting oil and gas by investing in energy efficiency and homegrown renewable power.”
Flossie Boyd, Global Witness senior campaigner said: “ As wildfires ravage Europe, drought bites and the Iran war hikes up fuel prices once again, it’s scandalous that the oil giants turbo-charging climate breakdown are cashing in on our misery.
“This is the second time in four years we’ve seen oil giants cash in on crisis and it’s time to break the cycle. Why should we face soaring food costs, spiralling energy bills, and a lack of protection from extreme heat while Big Oil firms’ line their executives’ pockets?”
Greenpeace political campaigner Angharad Hopkinson said: “We’ve just experienced the driest July on record and BP has driven record-breaking droughts, unprecedented wildfires and extraordinary excess heatwave deaths.
“To cause this destruction while amassing £4.24billion in profits shows how corporate gains have become entirely divorced from the public good – ordinary people are feeling the heat when it should be the polluters paying the price.”
BP’s second-quarter profit surged by 144% on higher oil and gas prices and strong refining margins. Oil majors have benefited this year from market volatility caused by the US-Iran conflict, which has disrupted energy flows and tightened global supplies.
New PM Andy Burnham is facing calls to allow new drilling in the North Sea which, it is claimed, could help bring down energy bills. However, that argument has been questioned and the new government is also under pressure to keep to its net zero aims.
BP last week put its North Sea business up for sale in a move that would end 60 years of production in the region by the oil giant.
BP boss Meg O’Neill – who is in line for a potential £13.7million payout this year – told CNBC: “If we step back, the North Sea has been very important to BP for more than 50 years. It’s a great basin, high-quality oil and gas resources, but when we look at how it fits into our portfolio today, it just doesn’t compete for capital.
“Now that said, there are plenty of other players that have approached us unsolicited, expressing interest in the basin, and so I am very optimistic that the assets that we have today will continue to be profitable in the hands of a future owner. “
She revealed: “I’ve had a conversation with the prime minister where he, you know, reinforced his desire to work closely with business, to be pragmatic. And the message I left him with was, you know, the UK gets 75% of its energy from fossil fuels today, so that’s oil and natural gas. You know, the first barrel of oil we consume and molecule of natural gas we need should be coming from the UK North Sea, where we generate jobs, we generate tax revenue, we generate all those additional positive impacts.”
Ms O’Neill, 55, became BP chief executive on April 1. The American, who spent 23 years at US energy firm ExxonMobil, is already guaranteed a £1.6m salary and nearly £500,000 towards her pension. But that could be turbo-charged by a maximum £3.6m annual bonus and a potential £8m long-term reward scheme for this year alone.
