During these times of hardship, affecting the greater proportion of the world’s population, the sharks never miss a beat! With Covid 19 reaking havoc for the past 2+years, you would think that there would have been all hands to the lifeboat. Indeed, it did look like that at first. But, as time passed, it appears the sharks are still operating in their comfort zones, and are now circling like vultures, and not looking likely to be taking prisoners. Of course, the words “sharks” and “vultures” I refer to are not fish and birds. The sharks and vultures that I refer to are the greedy, selfish minority of the world’s population, who feather their own nests at the expense of other less affluent beings, and don’t give a damn about the hardship they cause.

Motorists have seen the price of fuel more that double in The UK, where the government rakes-in a fair proportion of the sale price. But what really annoys me is the profit made by the energy companies, in this case Shell and BP. Shell have announced a 3 month profit of £6.9 billion:

BP has revealed second-quarter profits more than trebled to a 14-year high as it joined Shell in reaping the benefits of soaring oil and gas prices.

The oil giant reported underlying replacement cost profits – its preferred measure – jumping to a far better-than-expected 8.5 billion US dollars (£6.9 billion) for the three months to June 30, up from 2.8 billion US dollars (£2.3 billion) a year ago.

BP delivered cheer to investors, with a 10% rise in the dividend shareholder payout and by ramping up its share buyback plan with another 3.5 billion US dollars (£2.9 billion) due before the end of September.

Not to be outdone, Shell have announced an even bigger profit of £9.5 billion for the same period:

Shell reported that it would return billions of dollars to its shareholders as it continued to profit from massive energy price hikes following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The business said it would buy back six billion dollars (£4.9 billion) worth of shares from its investors, as earnings beat expectations.

Adjusted earnings hit nearly 11.5 billion dollars (£9.5 billion) for the second quarter of the year, compared with the less than 11 billion (£9 billion) that analysts had forecast.

BP and Shell might well be lining the pockets of shareholders, but the point is that with the profits they have shown doesn’t warrant the price rise of fuel to such a high, that only the wealthy proportion of the population can afford to buy the fuel.

But it’s not just fuel prices. Centrica, owner of British Gas, has announced a profit of £1.3 billion over the first 6 months of this year:

The energy giant said its upstream business, which includes its North Sea operations, saw adjusted operating profit reach £1.3 billion in the first six months of the year – an increase of more than 1,100%.

According to Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea, he’s very conscious of the fact that “people are having a tough time”. But then, he says that Centrica are expecting to pay a windfall tax of over £600 million in the next couple of years, a lot going back into society:

Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea said: “I know it’s difficult to see the word profits, or dividends, or similar words when people are having a tough time. I’m very conscious of this.

“Bear in mind, over the next couple of years we are expecting to pay a windfall tax of probably well over £600 million on our UK gas business off the back of the profits that we’re seeing, so a lot of this is going back into society.”

But it’s not going back into society, it’s going to the government.

At the end of the day, the population is screwed, like they always have been, at the hands of the self-serving politicians. Being a politician is a job, like any other. Instead of having expensive lunches, chauffeur-driven cars, travelling expenses, and spending half a day in the constituency office, take a packed-lunch, get the bus, buy your own travel tickets and put-in more time in the constituency office to help people with their problems. And, if you must attend the House of Commons, don’t fall-asleep (and miss your bus home).

Best Regards

Rantattack