Reported by The Guardian
Oil giant comes under fire from climate campaigners, as its earnings reach $8.46bn while ‘innocent civilians suffer’
BP’s quarterly profits have been labelled “obscene” after they hit an 18-year high of $8.46bn (£6.3bn), as the war in the Middle East drove up oil and gas prices.
The energy company hailed a “banner quarter” on Friday, with its underlying replacement cost profit – a key measure of its income – almost quadrupling in the three months to the end of September, from $2.2bn in the same period a year ago. The jump meant BP’s quarterly profits hit their highest level since the $8.9bn recorded in 2008 .
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BP’s chief executive, Meg O’Neill, told Bloomberg TV: “It really was a banner quarter for the refining business. We had very strong margins from the BP-operated refineries, we also had very strong underlying performance. We were able to capture the opportunity provided by the market.”
However, climate crisis campaigners said it was outrageous that BP was profiting so handsomely on commodities causing serious damage to the environment.
It is just over a week until diplomats will meet in Antalya, Turkey, for the Cop31 UN climate summit. Recent climate-linked disasters such as the devastating floods in Nepal will be at the forefront of many delegates’ minds. There are likely to be tensions with fossil fuel producing countries, which have sought to stymie calls for a transition to clean energy.
BP’s strong results also come as motorists in the UK face high fuel prices, with diesel now at 198.79p a litre, according to estimates from the RAC. The cost of petrol has also risen, with an average price of 172.92p a litre, compared with 132.83p in late February, before the latest conflict in the Middle East began.
Jonathan Noronha-Gant, of the campaign group Global Witness, said it was “obscene that polluters are continuing to cash in on the fallout of the war in Iran, making more bumper profits from spiralling oil prices while innocent civilians suffer.
“These massive profits come as ordinary people across Europe are struggling with the rising cost of living, with many struggling…