“Historical” Profits of Western Oil Companies from Wars
Over the past two years, the West's biggest oil companies have made $281 billion in profits. Disclosures by the non-governmental organization Global Witness
In recent days, the two years that have passed since the beginning of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine have been analyzed. It has now become commonplace to record growth in orders and revenues for the defense industry in Europe and the USA. Tens of thousands of dollars in Washington’s “aid” to Ukraine has actually returned to the USA or is about to be reinvested in the U.S. economy. This was stated to the American TV channel CNN by Victoria Nuland, who serves as US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs. “We must always remember,” Nuland said, “that much of this money goes back into the United States economy” to make these weapons and to pay for, among other things, high-paying jobs in nearly 40 states across America.”
And now it turns out that Western oil companies are also the “real winners of the war in Ukraine.” Since the start of the armed conflict, the five largest listed oil companies – BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies – have made $281 billion in profits thanks to rising hydrocarbon prices. This was stated in the latest report by the UK-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Global Witness, which also defined its mission as “breaking the ties between natural resource exploitation, conflict, poverty, corruption, and human rights violation around the world.”
In the report published in London on February 19, 2024, the organization touting the “historical profits” of the oil industry said that the profits generated by Chevron, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies as a whole amount to about $187 billion, and the combined revenues of the two British companies BP and Shell (about $94.2 billion) “would be enough to cover all the energy bills of British families for 17 consecutive months.”
To increase their profits, the oil lobby in America and Europe has managed to impose various sanctions on Russia, including the so-called “oil price ceiling,” which limits Russia’s international trade in hydrocarbons.
Global Witness experts write that although oil-free investment projects have stalled, the rise in profits associated with the Russia-Ukraine conflict “has given new impetus to investments in oil projects by companies with a concurrent slowing commitment to green investments.”
In particular, the British NGO pointed the finger at Shell, which, having made $58.9 billion in profits since the second quarter of 2022, is now set to “cut more than 300 roles from its suite of carbon dioxide reduction solutions, instead demonstrating a new focus on high-yield oil projects.”
The United Nations, too, has called the exaggerated profits of Western oil companies “immoral.” According to UN Secretary General António Guterres, “it is immoral that oil and gas companies are making record profits from this energy crisis, which is placing a burden on the poorest people and communities and has huge consequences for the climate.”
The table shows the quarterly profits (in billions of dollars) of each company, as well as the total profits since the war began
Source: Global Witness