On Thursday, Shell reported its highest profit since 2008 in the quarter ending March as commodity and fuels prices have seen an unprecedented rise. This has led to a call for a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas companies in the U.K., to help the nation’s households deal with huge energy bills that keep rising. Oil and gas companies worldwide including BP in the U.K., Total Energies in France, Equinor in Norway and Chevron and Exxon Mobil in the U.S. also reported huge profits in the quarter.

Although Shell said it would have to write off $4 billion to $5 billion in assets due to withdrawal from Russia, the oil company said that it would not impact adjusted earnings. Unions and environmental groups including Friends of the Earth Scotland termed the profits as “obscene” and said that it was an indication of how broken the energy system was, in the U.K., with its huge dependence on fossil fuels.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $9.1 billion for the quarter through the end of March. This was similar to what was estimates by analysts, according to a Refinitiv survey. Last year, the reported earnings in the same quarter were $3.2 billion, while the fourth quarter earnings report was $6.4 billion.

Other announcements included:

A plan to increase first quarter dividend by $0.25 per share, which is roughly 4 percent.
Buy back program of $4 billion completed; rest of $8.5 billion buy back program would be completed before announcing second quarter earnings.
It took $3.9 billion of post-tax charges due to its exit from Russia.

On Thursday morning Shell shares rose by 8 percent. The oil and gas industry has seen a huge rise in profit in companies all around the world, despite increased costs due to many companies exiting from Russia.

On Wednesday, in its newest economic sanctions, the European Union announced that it was planning to ban Russian oil imports in six months and refined products by the end of 2022. This resulted in an increase in oil price futures.

(Photo/Credit: Facebook Shell)