Commenting on Shell’s Q4 results, published today, Tessa Khan, director of Uplift said:
“Families in this country are going to struggle to heat their homes and businesses to operate because of companies like Shell. This is gross profiteering and it is obscene that its shareholders get rich, while people face real hardship."
"And yet this government still bends over backwards to serve Shell’s interests. Take the tax system, which by design makes the UK the most profitable place in the world for companies like Shell to develop large oil and gas projects. In 2020, not only did Shell not pay any tax in the UK, the only country in which it operates where it didn’t, Shell picked up nearly £100 million from taxpayers in rebates. Yet, even now, the Chancellor is refusing to step in and try and claw some back with a windfall tax."
“Then there's the government's plan to hand over yet more oil and gas licenses, which again sees it doing Shell's bidding. We know that to lower bills we need investment redirected into cheaper, UK renewable energy, and we know that continued oil and gas production will lead to dangerous climate change. And yet Ministers want to lock us into expensive, polluting fossil fuels for decades longer than necessary, allowing Shell to continue to make these obscene profits. Over the next couple of years, Shell is forecast to spend more on developing new fields and exploration than any other operator in the North Sea, according to Rystad Energy."
“Bill-payers looking at this, many of them about to face real hardship, must wonder in whose interest the government is working, UK households and businesses or oil and gas firms like Shell.”
ENDS
