Ukraine War Fattened Big Oil, Line Putin's War Kitty: BBC

The big oil companies - from the UK-based BP and Shell to international giants such as ExxonMobil and Norway’s Equinor - have been announcing astonishing profit figures, Ben King reported for BBC News.

Photo Insert: A sustained rise in oil and gas prices pushes up the cost of many other things we buy, driving the cost of living crisis that has gripped the UK - and other countries - in recent months.

They are all benefitting from the surging price of oil and gas following the invasion of Ukraine. While they rake in the profits, people around the world are struggling to pay their energy bills and fill up their cars - leading to calls for higher taxes on these companies.

So how are they making so much money, and should the government step in to stop them?

In 2022, the combined earnings of Big Oil companies reached $222 billion, more than double the year before. Why has the oil price soared? Oil and gas are traded around the world, and if supplies are short and demand high, sellers can charge more, and the price goes up.

Before the Ukraine war, Russia was the world’s largest exporter of oil and natural gas. A lot of the money that people paid to buy that oil and gas went to the Russian government - those exports made up 45% of the Russian government budget in 2021.

After the invasion, Western countries, including the UK and EU, tried to stop (or at least massively reduce) their energy imports from Russia, to avoid funding the Russian military and supporting a hostile regime.

Oil and natural gas are crucial to almost every aspect of modern life. Oil is used to make petrol and diesel, and natural gas is used for heating and cooking. They're also used in agriculture, electricity generation, and other industrial processes which make everything from fertilizer to plastics.

So a sustained rise in oil and gas prices pushes up the cost of many other things we buy, driving the cost of living crisis that has gripped the UK - and other countries - in recent months.

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