British energy supermajor BP has reported record annual earnings, fueling demands that the UK boost taxes on companies benefiting from the surge in energy prices.
The London-based giant’s profits have jumped to nearly € 26bn in 2022 from just under € 12bn a year earlier. That beat the previous record profits BP earned in 2008, when tensions in Iran and Nigeria pushed world oil prices to a record of more than $147 a barrel.
BP also increased its quarterly dividend by 10% and announced plans to buy back billions of euros of stock from shareholders.
But the good news for BP shareholders is likely to be tempered by the public fallout, particularly in its home country. High oil and gas prices have hit Britain hard, fuelling painful inflation.
Ed Miliband, the opposition Labour Party’s spokesman on climate issues, called on the UK government to bring forward a “proper” windfall profits tax on energy companies.
“It’s yet another day of enormous profits at an energy giant, the windfalls of war, coming out of the pockets of the British people”, Miliband said.
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