The oil “super majors” recorded stratospheric profits in 2021, taking full advantage of the surge in oil prices. A prosperity that bristles environmentalists and consumers hit in the wallet by the energy crisis.
TotalEnergies thus announced Thursday a huge net profit of 16 billion dollars in 2021, the highest for at least 15 years. Before him, other oil giants had unveiled dizzying annual profits: 23 billion dollars for ExxonMobil, 20.1 billion for Shell, 15.6 billion for Chevron or 7.6 billion for BP.
A rebound following the price of oil bottomed out in April 2020 ( once morest the backdrop of the pandemic) with a barrel of Brent at 18 dollars, while last January it reached new heights for more than seven years, at more of $90.
“Oil companies have benefited from an extraordinarily favorable alignment of planets in 2021”, notes Moez Ajmi, of the EY firm: in addition to the surge in prices, the majors have carried out a “cleaning” of their assets to keep only the most profitable.
Other factors of good health, according to Mr. Ajmi, “a strengthening of the cost reduction policy which had begun as soon as the price drop of 2014” and a “reopening (admittedly progressive) of the floodgates of OPEC+”, the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries and its allies, and therefore more volumes.
Grimace at the pump
Most companies have thus experienced a “180 degree turn” from one year to the next, according to Francis Perrin, associate researcher at the Policy Center for the New South (Rabat) and research director at the Institute of International Relations and strategic (Paris). Like the American ExxonMobil, which had lost 22.4 billion dollars in 2020 before an almost equivalent profit in 2021.
Not enough to relieve consumers who see their purchasing power burdened by soaring energy prices and are very critical of the wealth garnered by oil groups.
Anxious to clear up any controversy, TotalEnergies had drawn the day before its results a discount at the pump in its stations in rural areas in France, as well as a “gas check” of 100 euros for its precarious customers. In the UK, figures from BP and Shell are prompting calls for a windfall tax. “BP and Shell are pocketing billions thanks to the gas price crisis (…) These same companies are responsible for bringing our world closer to climate catastrophe”, denounced the NGO Greenpeace this week.
However, the price of black gold should continue to climb, according to Mr. Perrin, for whom the return to a barrel at 100 dollars this year is completely plausible. “The health crisis seems to be over, the economic recovery in China, the United States and Europe does not seem to be flagging, supply continues to be limited due to the lack of oil investment over the past two years. and ecological pressure. So yes, the rebound in majors profits might continue in 2022,” summarizes Moez Ajmi.
The oil “super majors” recorded stratospheric profits in 2021, taking full advantage of the surge in oil prices. A prosperity that bristles environmentalists and consumers hit in the wallet by the energy crisis. TotalEnergies thus announced Thursday a huge net profit of 16 billion dollars…
