The combined profits of some of the world's largest oil companies (Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies) amounted to almost $200 billion in 2022.
Many major oil companies are reporting their largest annual profits ever as they release their results for the fourth quarter of 2022. ExxonMobil reported the highest profits to date for any Western oil company at $59.1 billion. Shell announced the largest profits in the company's 115-year history ($39.9 billion) and Chevron ($36.5 billion), TotalEnergies ($36.2 billion) and BP ($27.7 billion) also set new records.
Oil companies have posted soaring quarterly profits this year as oil prices rose sharply following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
« Bien sûr, nos résultats ont clairement bénéficié d’un marché favorable mais, pour tirer pleinement parti du marché sous-approvisionné, notre travail a commencé il y a des années, bien avant la pandémie, lorsque nous avons choisi d’investir de manière anticyclique », a déclaré Darren Woods, PDG d’ExxonMobil, lors d’une conférence téléphonique avec les investisseurs. « Nous nous sommes penchés quand d’autres se sont penchés. »
Profits of $199 billion are even higher than analysts had expected. Financial market expert Refinitiv estimated that ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies would together bring in $190 billion in 2022.
La plupart des grandes sociétés pétrolières, à l’exception de Shell, ont terminé l’année avec des bénéfices inférieurs au quatrième trimestre par rapport au trimestre précédent. BP a enregistré la plus forte baisse de ses bénéfices, passant de 8,2 milliards de dollars au troisième trimestre à 4,8 milliards de dollars au dernier trimestre de 2022. La baisse des taux de profit est principalement due à la baisse des prix des combustibles fossiles au cours des derniers mois de l’année par rapport au pic qui suivi l’invasion russe. BP attribue les résultats inférieurs du quatrième trimestre à « un résultat de commercialisation et de négoce de gaz inférieur à la moyenne ».
In 2022, the Big Five oil companies more than doubled their profits from the previous year. The record profits have drawn attention to companies profiting from war and the energy crisis at a time of rising energy poverty in many countries and the need for an accelerated energy transition if the world is to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement.
In September 2022, the EU adopted emergency legislation containing a temporary 33% "exceptional tax" on fossil fuel profits. Oil giant ExxonMobil filed a complaint in response to the tax, arguing that it is not within the EU's legal authority and will discourage investment. In its 2022 earnings report, Exxon says it could have earned an extra $1.3 billion and blames the loss partly on the EU tax. The US government has threatened to impose a similar tax on oil profits.
« Les bénéfices records des compagnies pétrolières aujourd’hui ne sont pas dus au fait qu’elles font quelque chose de nouveau ou d’innovant », a fait remarquer le président américain Joe Biden en octobre lors de la publication des résultats du troisième trimestre. « Leurs profits sont une aubaine de la guerre, la manne du conflit brutal qui ravage l’Ukraine et blesse des dizaines de millions de personnes dans le monde. »
Instead of investing in the transition to clean energy, oil companies are using record profits to reward shareholders and invest in share buybacks. Chevron announced a $75 billion share buyback programme and Exxon unveiled a $50 billion buyback plan. Shell paid out $6.3 billion to shareholders in the final months of 2022 and said it planned another $4 billion share buyback. BP increased its payout to shareholders by 10% and TotalEnergies increased its dividend and announced a further $2 billion share buyback.
Meanwhile, BP has announced that the company will reduce its climate ambitions while increasing its investment in oil and gas. BP now aims to reduce carbon emissions from its oil and gas production by 20-30% by 2030, down from its original target of 35-40%.
Shell said it had invested about $3.5 billion in its renewable energy division in 2022, or 14% of its total capital expenditure of $25 billion. However, on 1 February, the non-profit organisation Global Witness filed a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the US investor protection agency, accusing Shell of mislabelling its investments and inflating its spending on renewables in 2021. According to Global Witness, the company spent only 1.5% ($288 million) of its capital expenditure on solar and wind power generation in 2021, rather than the 12% claimed, and that most of Shell's spending on "Renewable and Energy Solutions" went to gas-related activities.
« Shell ne devrait pas s’en tirer en utilisant ses minuscules investissements dans les énergies renouvelables comme une feuille de vigne pour dissimuler la réalité qu’elle continue de profiter de la crise énergétique au détriment des personnes et de la planète », a déclaré Zorka Milin, conseillère principale chez Global Witness, dans un communiqué de presse. « Nous appelons les autorités américaines à demander des comptes à Shell et à créer un précédent pour s’assurer que d’autres entreprises de combustibles fossiles ne se livrent pas à un écoblanchiment similaire. »
Shell denied mislabelling its investments and said it was satisfied that its financial information complied with US regulations.
In 2021, the International Energy Agency warned that there could be no new oil and gas developments if the world was to limit global warming to 1.5°C. A recent analysis by theEnergy Monitor showed that the current extraction plans of the world's major oil and gas producers alone would already blow almost the entire remaining global carbon budget for this target.
Big Oil itself signals the end of oil. BP's Energy Outlook 2023, which was published on 30 January, suggests that while oil is expected to continue to play a major role in global energy over the next 15 to 20 years, demand for oil has already peaked and will only decline in the coming decades.
ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies could have used their record profits to invest heavily in the energy transition. Instead, the oil majors continue to plan and develop new oil and gas fields.
In 2023, Big Oil's profits are expected to fall by about a quarter from 2022, according to S&P Global IQ. The market information company expects the five oil majors to earn $150 billion this year. While this would not set a new record, profits would still be higher than in the past two decades.