Shell calls for ‘certainty’ after Labour increases oil and gas windfall tax

Shell’s finance chief has called for “certainty” on the Government’s oil and gas policy, the day after Labour confirmed plans to raise a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas firms.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she will increase the tax, known as the energy profits levy, to 38% from 35% in the autumn Budget.

Shell’s Sinead Gorman said on Thursday: “Elected officials just have to balance budgets in the best way they see fit.

“We have to look for policies that provide certainty… We invest over the long term.

She added: “We have seen a number of changes in the fiscal policy in the last few years, but we continue to engage constructively with the Government on alternative fiscal regimes to support the future of the North Sea and that energy transition in the UK.”

The windfall tax applies to profits made from extracting UK oil and gas, and was initially set at 25% before Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt increased it to 35% in 2023.

Now Labour has raised it again, with plans to use the revenue to help pay for new renewable energy projects.

Ms Reeves also scrapped a 29% investment allowance, which means companies can offset tax from money that is reinvested.

Ms Gorman was commenting as Shell’s profits came in higher than market forecasts last quarter, after it made more money from its gas business than people had expected.

The energy giant said adjusted earnings were 6.03 billion US dollars (£4.64 billion), comfortably beating analysts’ consensus of 5.36 billion dollars (£4.13 billion).

Gas production was up 4.5% on the same period last year, while liquefaction volumes – turning natural gas into liquid – were up 9%.

Total earnings still nudged down 3.1% versus last year, amid what Ms Gorman called a “less favourable” macroeconomic environment more broadly.

Brent crude prices remain significantly down over the last six months, and weaker demand for oil worldwide has hit margins at Shell’s refineries.

Refining is “a bit more difficult at the moment. We’re definitely seeing a period of rebalancing in all the energy markets,” she said.

However, Shell said it will give more returns to investors by buying back a further 3.5 billion dollars (£2.69 billion) of its shares.

It marks the 12th consecutive quarter that Shell has rewarded shareholders with more than three billion dollars (£2.31 billion) in buybacks.

Derren Nathan, an analyst at investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, called the returns “impressive stuff in the context of weak commodity prices and industry-wide pressures on refining margins”.

On Thursday, protesters from climate group Fossil Free London, dressed in Halloween costumes, gathered outside Shell’s London office near Waterloo.

Shell weakened several carbon reduction targets earlier this year, following other oil and gas giants in placing higher emphasis on financial returns amid pressure from investors.

The company’s investments in its renewable energy division fell to just 8% of its overall spending budget last quarter. The unit does not include some of Shell’s low-carbon businesses, including electric car charging or biofuels.

Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift, said the profits, and continuing returns to shareholders, “show us exactly why the extension to the oil and gas windfall tax is needed”.