Sharjah24 – AFP: Soaring energy prices have brought massive profits to oil majors -- along with fierce criticism from environmentalists and politicians at a time when consumers are left with rising bills.
US firm ExxonMobil, France's TotalEnergies, and UK giants Shell and BP announced in the past week 2021 profits totalling a whopping $66.7 billion.
It marked a huge turnaround from 2020, when they posted losses as the pandemic emerged, prompting lockdowns that brought the world economy to a grinding halt and caused crude prices to collapse.
But oil and gas prices rallied big time last year, surging to $70 per barrel after briefly sinking into negative territory in 2020.
The main international and US contracts rose to seven-year highs in January and now sit at around $90. Gas prices, meanwhile, hit records in Europe.
The companies also strengthened their cost-cutting policies which started in a previous price slump in 2014.
A gradual increase in output by OPEC and its allies has also helped.
ExxonMobil went from a $22.4 billion loss in 2020 to a $23 billion profit in 2021.
Shell was $20.1 billion in the green last year after a $21.7 billion loss in 2020.
TotalEnergies went from a historic $7.2 billion loss to a 15-year high profit of $16 billion.
BP's recovery was not as big, going from $20.3 billion in the red to $7.6 billion in the green.
Prices at the pump and utility bills, meanwhile, have gone up for consumers.
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