BP’s profit haul on the back of the Middle East conflict has been branded “obscene” as oil price hike leaves drivers and households facing new cost of living misery
Oil giant BP has been slammed for raking in “astronomical” profits of £366 a second while households pay the price of the Iran war.
BP’s profits more than doubled to almost £2.4billion in the first three months of this year on the back of a surge in the wholesale cost of oil. Given the conflict only erupted at the end of February, it suggests much of the surge came in the space of a few weeks.
Yet while the company coins it in – with BP boss Meg O’Neill in line for a potential £13.7million payout this year – ordinary people are suffering pain at the pumps and are left fearing rising energy bills.
Elderly widower Barry Seckerson, 86, from Stoke-on-Trent, said: “It’s scandalous – outrageous. I have arthritis really bad which means I have to have the heating on.” Fearing that his bills may go up even further, the retired construction worker added: “It would kill me if I wasn’t able to put the heating on.”
The national average for unleaded petrol has jumped 24p a litre to more than 157p since the war began, while diesel is up almost 47p to an average 189p. . Meanwhile, industry experts Cornwall Insight forecasts regulator Ofgem’s price cap for tens of millions of households could jump from £1,641 to £1,843 a year in July, due largely to higher wholesale energy costs.
Others voiced anger at BP’s Middle East conflict fuelled profit bonanza. Jon Farley, 68, from Leeds, said: “What a rip off, it’s time to fleece the bosses and take BP into public ownership.” Peter Olech, 62, from Edinburgh, said: “War is going to mean higher energy bills for most UK households while private energy companies will rake in obscene profits.”
Imogen Thomas, 31, from Battle, said: “Politicians are letting them get away with blatant profiteering. They need to start doing their job and protecting us from price hikes, or we’ll be paying the price of energy company greed yet again.”
Mohammed Khalid, 72, from Birmingham, said: “Who are the people making money out of war, out of misery? It’s the multinational companies. BP is no exception – taking over the resources of other countries. Economically, the ordinary shoppers will suffer. People like me who only have a pension and are not entitled to benefits, my income has gone down by 30%. My pension has gone up £5 – I’m spending £35-£40 a week more on shopping, depending on what I buy.”
Jan Shortt, 80, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who is general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said: “I worry constantly about what my bills will be next month, let alone next winter. I try to keep the heating off as long as I can each winter, but at my age, in a cold house, you feel it.
“When I see that energy companies are making billions in profit, I just think: who is this system actually for? It is not for people like me. “I want the government to step in before July and make sure pensioners are not left to choose between heating and eating while oil and gas firms count their windfalls.”
Producers such as BP are expected to be among the big winners from economic turmoil unleashed by the US-Israel war with Iran because it has driven up the price paid for oil and wholesale gas.
Brent crude – a key international benchmark for oil – leapt from $60 (£44) a barrel before the Middle East war began to a high of $119 (£88) as Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz triggered a fresh energy shock. While the near shutdown of the route through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally passed has impacted the shipments of energy firms, it also delivered a windfall from rocketing prices.
And the bonanza for producers looks set to continue after oil prices hit $111 (£81) a barrel for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday as it appeared there was little progress in peace talks between Tehran and Washington. BP’s profit hail smashed the £2billion experts were predicting.
Simon Francis, coordinator for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “These astronomical profits are a startling reminder that when conflict drives up the price of oil and gas, energy companies profit and households pay.”
Maja Darlington, climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “The oil industry’s capacity to profiteer from human misery is almost limitless.” Patrick Galey, head of news investigations at Global Witness, said: “It is horrifying to see BP’s profits grow as millions suffer the fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran. “Unfortunately we’ve been here before – when Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago we saw big oil firms make bumper profits from spiralling fuel costs.”
Robert Palmer, deputy director at campaign group Uplift, said: “It’s appalling that while millions are worrying over energy bills, oil giants like BP are raking in billions. Today the oil major has been given a further boost with an unearned windfall because of the Iran conflict. It’s just the first of the bumper profits oil and gas firms will make as this crisis drags on. Worse, BP is also rowing back on the very things, like investment in wind energy and solar, that will get us off the fossil fuel rollercoaster. It wants us to stay hooked on oil and gas so it can keep profiting.”
Ms O’Neill, 55, who took over as BP’s chief executive on April 1, said: “BP’s team has been working relentlessly to keep our assets producing safely, reliably and efficiently. We are working with customers and governments to get fuel where it’s needed, helping minimize disruption and the impact it can have on people’s lives.”
The American, who spent 23 years at US energy goliath ExxonMobil, is already guaranteed a £1.6million salary and a near £500,000 towards her pension. But that could be turbo-charged by a maximum £3.6million annual bonus and a potential £8million long-term reward scheme for this year alone. That is before any jump in the value of the shares in BP which she is required to own.
Ms O’Neill had a beachside mansion in Perth, Australia, where she was based while running Woodside Energy. BP is paying her relocation costs to the UK, including rent for up to six months.
The Mirror revealed earlier this month how fatcats running four of Britain’s biggest industry giants are among those whose shareholdings have jumped in value. They are included in a list of 10 global industry bigwigs whose holdings have leapt by a combined £66million since the crisis began at the end of February.
Linda Z Cook, chief executive of Harbour Energy, one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, has seen the value of her stake leap by £4.3million to £26.2million, analysis showed. At BP, interim boss Carol Howle’s shares grew by more than £500,000 to £2.8million in a month.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said energy firms’ profits “is exactly why” the Government has extended the energy profits levy. She told the Commons: “In the first three months of this year, I think it’s important to know that revenues from fuel duty were no higher than they were just a year ago. And with regards to the profits of energy companies, that is exactly why we extended the energy profits levy to make sure that windfall profits could be taxed appropriately.” She said BP is among oil and gas companies that “play a really important part in our energy mix”.
BP’s update showed its customers and products division – including its oil trading unit – reported profits of £1.84billion, up from £1billion in the previous quarter and just £76.2million a year ago as traders were able to capitalise on highly volatile oil prices.
BP is one of the first oil “majors” to announce profits that cover the period after the Iran war started. However, recent analysis showed energy firms posted over £23.1billion in profit in 2025. This was up from £22.7billion in 2024.
