Oil firms reveal huge profits in 2008
Author: Robin Brown
Published: 30 April 2008
Oil firms Shell and BP have announced profits amounting to over £7bn for the first quarter of 2008 - significantly up on last year.
The rising price of oil has pushed profits up for the oil proucers, with Shell posting a $7.8bn (£3.9bn) profit in the first three months of the year, while BP saw its profits rise by nearly one half to $6.588bn (£3.31bn).
Grangemouth
The results have been announced following a strike at Scotland's Grangemouth refinery that supplies petrol for most of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England. The outage threatened to stop pumping across the North Sea.
The strike has led to panic buying in Scotland and higher petrol prices, but workers have returned to work, averting a significant price hike.
Fuel protests
A protest by breakaway haulier group Transaction 2007 over the price of diesel also took place this week, with the group highlighting the cost of fuelling an articulated lorry and the threat of competition form European hauliers.
High prices
Having broken the benchmark £1 per litre mark in 2007 for petrol and $100 per barrel in early 2008, prices at the pumps have raced on to hit nearly £1.10 per litre.
For a litre of petrol costing 108 pence, around 33 pence goes to the oil company, , 66 pence in fuel duty and VAT to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 9 pence to the retailer.
But analysts point to global oil prices as the main reason behind the rising cost of petrol due to scarcity of supply.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has called on the Chancellor to vary the duty level on diesel and petrol to ensure that the pump price of the two fuels remain roughly the same.
The petrol industry is not profiteering during the current spike in fuel prices, according to the Petrol Retailers Association
Asda has fired the latest shot in the supermarket petrol price war by announcing that it will cut petrol and diesel prices for a second time.
There is currently zero demand for used petrol 4x4s, according to a leading car price guide, and owners of such vehicles have been refused part-exchange on large petrol 4x4s.
Citroën will introduce a new 170hp 2.4-litre petrol engine to its C-Crosser SUV range.
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