Oil giant Shell makes huge €8.7B profit in first quarter

Oil and gas company Shell earned €8.66 billion ($9.6 billion) in profits in the first quarter of 2023, the company said Thursday in a press release.

By disrupting energy supply chains in Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine has driven up prices across the Continent, giving a major boost to energy companies’ earnings, riling Kyiv and putting pressure on European governments to raise their tax rate.

Last week, British oil company BP announced it had made €4.54 billion (£4 billion) profits over the same period.

Both companies made record profits last year: Shell earned €36 billion ($40 billion) and BP €25 billion ($27.7 billion).

Ukraine isn’t happy — and wants oil companies to use their bumper profits to help it out.

In an interview with POLITICO in March, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko urged major energy companies to donate windfall profits due to the war, which he estimated at "more than $200 billion" (€180 billion), to help his country rebuild its power sector.