In the fourth quarter alone, BP’s profit rose by roughly 18 percent year-on-year to $4.8 billion. It slightly exceeded the expectations of analysts, who estimated it at an average of $4.7 billion in a survey by Refinitiv.
British competitor Shell and American rival ExxonMobil also posted record profits last year. Shell earned nearly $40 billion and ExxonMobil about $59 billion, a record corporate profit for the entire Western oil industry.
The high profits have renewed criticism of the oil and gas industry and led to calls for higher taxes on the industry, according to CNBC.
Some countries, including Britain, have already introduced a tax on the extraordinary profits of the energy sector. In this way, they want to get money to finance measures to mitigate the negative effects of high energy prices.
Shell reports record profit
Economic
