Oil giants post £3m an hour profits

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The impact of rising oil prices meant their combined earnings hit £7.2 billion in the first three months of the year - a haul far greater than City forecasts and resulting in share price gains of around 6% for both firms.

The profits were achieved at the same time as motorists visiting UK forecourts faced up to average unleaded prices of approaching £5 a gallon.

The AA said drivers would be shocked by the latest profits haul.

AA president Edmund King said: "The motorist feels somewhat battered from all sides, seeing the oil companies going off with cash in their pockets and the Treasury filling its coffers.

"It's the ordinary motorist that's bearing the brunt of this while the oil companies and the Government are laughing all the way to the bank."

He called on the oil companies to reinvest more of the windfall in drilling and refining, in order to increase the supply of oil and create downward pressure on petrol prices.

The profits were announced as dozens of hauliers took their protest against record-high diesel prices to the streets of London. Drivers from as far afield as Wales joined in a noisy and colourful cavalcade of trucks which lined Park Lane in the heart of the capital.

Shell's first quarter profits were 12% higher at 7.78 billion US dollars (£3.92bn) while BP improved 48% to 6.59 billion US dollars (£3.32bn).

In January, Royal Dutch Shell re-ignited calls for a windfall tax after it announced annual profits of £14 billion. However, independent charity the RAC Foundation said that anger over rising petrol costs needed to be directed towards the Government, adding that a flexible fuel duty would compensate for varying crude prices.