http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008 … hshell.oil
Shell set to stir petrol storm with record profits of £13.6bn
Oil group to post highest earnings by a British firm RAC urges the chancellor to cancel rise in fuel duty.
Shell will be at the centre of a political storm this week when it posts profits of almost $27bn (£13.6bn), the highest earnings ever made by a British company.
The record-breaking profits, on the back of soaring oil prices, seem likely to stir fresh allegations of profiteering. The price of petrol has been increasing sharply, rising from 71p a litre five years ago to about 104p a litre today, according to the AA.
Texas-based Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately-owned oil company, is expected to improve on its own previous record on Friday by reporting earnings of $39.6bn, the biggest annual profits that the US has ever seen.
Kate Gibbs at the Road Haulage Association described Shell's profits as "absolutely scandalous" but reserved her strongest criticism for the chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, who is planning to add another 2p a litre in fuel duty in April. More than 65% of the cost of unleaded petrol goes to the exchequer in fuel tax and VAT.
"If it is not Shell reporting record figures, it is BP," Gibbs said. "We don't like it but what's the point in criticising? But we have a chancellor who is hellbent on adding to the fuel duty and we are doing all we can to lobby parliament."
The RHA is meeting members of the transport policy committee in Westminster on Wednesday.
The RAC Foundation, a group that champions the interests of motorists, has begun conducting research about the impact of rising petrol prices on car owners and on business and hopes to persuade the chancellor to scrap the latest fuel duty increase.
"The price of petrol at the pump isn't very much to do with the profits of the oil companies - it is the chancellor who is responsible and he is the one person who can do something," said acting director Sheila Rainger.
Shell set to stir petrol storm with record profits of £13.6bn
Oil group to post highest earnings by a British firm RAC urges the chancellor to cancel rise in fuel duty.
Shell will be at the centre of a political storm this week when it posts profits of almost $27bn (£13.6bn), the highest earnings ever made by a British company.
The record-breaking profits, on the back of soaring oil prices, seem likely to stir fresh allegations of profiteering. The price of petrol has been increasing sharply, rising from 71p a litre five years ago to about 104p a litre today, according to the AA.
Texas-based Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately-owned oil company, is expected to improve on its own previous record on Friday by reporting earnings of $39.6bn, the biggest annual profits that the US has ever seen.
Kate Gibbs at the Road Haulage Association described Shell's profits as "absolutely scandalous" but reserved her strongest criticism for the chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, who is planning to add another 2p a litre in fuel duty in April. More than 65% of the cost of unleaded petrol goes to the exchequer in fuel tax and VAT.
"If it is not Shell reporting record figures, it is BP," Gibbs said. "We don't like it but what's the point in criticising? But we have a chancellor who is hellbent on adding to the fuel duty and we are doing all we can to lobby parliament."
The RHA is meeting members of the transport policy committee in Westminster on Wednesday.
The RAC Foundation, a group that champions the interests of motorists, has begun conducting research about the impact of rising petrol prices on car owners and on business and hopes to persuade the chancellor to scrap the latest fuel duty increase.
"The price of petrol at the pump isn't very much to do with the profits of the oil companies - it is the chancellor who is responsible and he is the one person who can do something," said acting director Sheila Rainger.
Xbone Stormsurgezz
