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Motorists' anger as BP rakes in £37m daily profit
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor29.07.08
BP sparked anger today with profits of £6.75 billion - the equivalent of £37million a day.
Unions and motorists accused the oil giant of cashing in on surging energy prices amid calls for a windfall tax.
The company insisted that the 23 rise in half-yearly profits compared with the same period last year was a legitimate reward for its efforts. Shell is expected to post high profits later this week.
BP said it obtained the bulk of its earnings from exploration and oil production, rather than sales at the pumps where it makes less than 1p in profit on every litre of petrol it sells at its 1,300 UK filling stations.
But the explanation cut little ice with critics. Tony Woodley, joint leader of the union Unite, said: "While ordinary people struggle to make ends meet, BP's boardroom is wading through knee-deep profits.
"It is high time our government moved to stop the fuel corporates picking the pockets of the poor and needy.
"A windfall tax now would ensure the money was there to help the old and vulnerable through these tough times." Neil Greig, director of the Institute of Advanced Motorists Motoring Trust, added: "Many will find it hard to accept the continued huge profits being made."
Petrol prices have soared since the start of the year, rising from an average of 102.8p per litre at the start of January to 118.2p at the end of June - a rise of 15 per cent. Diesel prices leapt 22 per cent over the same period.
Pressure on BP over its fuel pump prices increased last week when several supermarkets announced cuts in their forecourt charges.
Sainsbury said it was cutting 5p a litre from the price paid by motorists buying at least £50 worth of fuel, while Asda, Morrison and Tesco have also announced cuts. BP says that the price of petrol at the 310 garages where it controls prices has gone down by 2p.
Wendy Nichols, 61, from Barnes, a magazine writer, said: "These profits are absolutely outrageous. It's really quite shocking. Perhaps we should start boycotting companies like BP. If we all boycotted the biggest petrol company it would force prices down."
Charlotte Harman, 45, a university lecturer from Hammersmith, added: "What do they do with their profits? It's much more expensive to fill my car now - £54 for a tank of diesel, compared with £45 a few months ago."
BP's profits are all the more striking because the company has faced a difficult year, suffering major problems with its Russian operations and controversy over a huge job-cutting programme in the UK.
Under chief executive Tony Hayward, BP is benefiting principally from the surging oil price which reached 144 dollars a barrel last month before slipping back in recent weeks. In response to calls for a windfall tax, the company said it paid £7.3 billion in taxes worldwide last year - of which £1.17 billion was in the UK.
Reader views (4)
The price of petrol at the pumps is linked to taxation much more than the price of crude. All petrol retailers make their profits from nasty coffee and buns rather than petrol - why do you think they came up their Beanie Cafes in the first place. If you want the price of fuel to come down then taxation must be reduced. Lobby Gordon Brown, you are more likely to get a result.
- Dannyp, Egham
Good to see BP are making good profits and paying masses of tax, that's good for the UK and very good for our pension funds, upon which many of us rely on in retirement!
- Jose Luis, London UK
BP deserve every penny and any talk of a windfall tax should be quashed. BP, Shell and others explore, drill and distribute a vital resource - what do Gordon Brown and his cronies do to justify getting any more tax out of the UK economy, which they will then squander on failing public services and free plasma tellies for themselves?
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
I try my best to avoid using BP, not only are they more expensive, I definitely think they water down there diesel. I monitor my fuel consumption every day and i consistently get less with BP than with other petrol suppliers, sometimes as much as 10 miles per gallon.
I never get past 20 miles per gallon with BP, and I have tried different garages with the same results, is it any wonder that they make these outrageous sums of money from us when they are selling us semi skimmed fuel.
- Mr S.Port, London
