Shell Profits Record Angers Stakeholders

Anglo-Dutch oil firm Royal Dutch Shell has reported record annual profits of $27.56bn (£13.9bn).

The record figures have made British corporate history, which are equivalent to more than £1.5m an hour and come at the end of a three-month period when crude prices have averaged over $90 a barrel.

Much of the rise in profits has been attributed to rising oil prices, which currently stand at about $91 a barrel compared with $57 this time last year.

Meanwhile, some unions have objected to the level of Shell's profits at a time when consumers and businesses are struggling to cope with the effects of these high oil prices.

Unite's Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley described the level of profits in the oil industry as, "quite frankly obscene".

"Shell shareholders are doing very nicely whilst the rest of us, the stakeholders, are paying the price and struggling," he said.

However, oil companies have stressed that little of their profits come from petrol forecourts, with the majority of the price paid at the pump already going straight to the government.

Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell, described the performance as "satisfactory" and admitted that overall production for the year had actually dropped 2%.

He added: "We made good progress in 2007, launched new projects upstream and downstream, and achieved exploration successes."

(GC)