Global energy giant Shell said Thursday that its annual profits doubled to a record high last year as oil and natural gas prices soared after Russia invaded Ukraine.
London-based Shell Plc posted adjusted earnings of $39.9 billion for 2022 in its financial results for the final three months of the year. Adjusted earnings in the fourth quarter, which exclude one-time items and fluctuations in the value of inventories, rose by 50%, to $9.8 billion, from the same period a year earlier.
Shell is the latest oil company to report bumper profits, which risks reigniting public anger that the fossil fuel industry do more to offset high energy bills for households and small businesses as well as cut climate-changing carbon emissions. U.S.-based Exxon Mobil also posted record annual profits days earlier, while U.K. rival BP and France's TotalEnergies reported huge quarterly profits last year.
The results demonstrate Shell's "capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world," new CEO Wael Sawan said in a statement.
It's the first earnings report presented by Sawan since he took over as chief executive at the start of the year, replacing Ben van Beurden, who stepped down after nine years. Sawan also has reorganized the company's core business units.
Sawan, who has worked for Shell for 25 years, was previously director of its integrated gas, renewables and energy solutions business. His appointment was seen as a part of Shell's strategy to take what it calls a leading role in the energy transition despite criticism that it's been slow to cut emissions.
Shell also is raising its dividend payout by 15% and buying back $4 billion worth of shares -- moves that underline the tension between energy company shareholders seen as reaping big profits and consumers weighed down by higher costs for heating their homes and filling up their cars.
The results were "truly stunning" and "will do nothing to quieten demands for further windfall taxes to redistribute some of the bounty Shell has enjoyed this year thanks to the Ukraine-inspired disruption to global energy markets," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, an investment service platform.
Russia's war in Ukraine sent global energy prices surging, with natural gas prices in Europe hitting record levels last summer and oil hovering at $120 per barrel. They have since come down, but natural gas prices are still three times what they were before Russia massed troops on the Ukrainian border.
To ease the pain on households and consumers, the European Union and individual countries like Britain and Italy have imposed windfall taxes on energy companies, and U.S. President Joe Biden has raised the idea of a war profit tax.
Shell expected to pay an extra $2.3 billion in taxes to cover the EU and U.K. windfall levies for 2022. The company said it paid out $26 billion to shareholders last year in dividends and share buybacks.
"For the millions of people globally who are struggling with the high cost of energy or the impacts of the climate crisis, Shell reaping in record profits will rightly feel incredibly unfair," said Alice Harrison of Global Witness, a nonprofit that advocates for environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility.
Global Witness filed a complaint Wednesday with U.S. regulators accusing the company of greenwashing. The group asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Shell broke securities laws and misled investors about the extent of its renewable energy investments.
Global Witness says its analysis shows that 1.5% of Shell's capital spending went to wind and solar power generation, compared with the 12% that the company claimed in its 2021 annual report.
Greenpeace activists have occupied a vessel in the North Sea transporting a Shell oil production platform to protest the environmental damage by fossil fuel companies. Four activists raised a banner that said "Stop Drilling, Start Paying," according to photos posted online by Greenpeace this week.
Top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, two security sources told Reuters.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Smoke is rising over Lebanon’s capital of Beirut Friday after Israel’s military struck southern suburbs – a dramatic escalation in a year-long period of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
A paid passenger on an expedition to the Titanic with the company that owned the Titan submersible testified before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday that the mission he took part in was aborted due to an apparent mechanical failure.
Following the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems, a new study found.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
The second-degree murder trial of Thomas Hamp is being adjourned until December so an expert witness central to the trial can testify.
In the middle of the small crowd — near the tents, the lineup of kids awaiting face painting, the snack table — stood a jubilant Chiara Padovani. 'When I say 'tenant, you say 'power,'' she commanded to several dozen tenants, who chanted back with gusto. What looked like a summer block party in front of two north-end Toronto apartment buildings last month was a celebration of what renters who withheld payments for months called a 'huge victory.'
For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her 'worst nightmare.' On Feb. 7, her then three-year-old son Jacob along with his father Loc Phu 'Jay' Le departed for what was supposed to be a week-long visit to Vietnam to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family, McArthur says.
Lawmakers are scrambling to ensure that the U.S. Secret Service has enough money and resources to keep the nation's presidential candidates safe amid repeated threats of violence. It's unclear, though, how much they can do with only weeks before the election, or if additional dollars would make an immediate difference.
The mayor of a French town making headlines for the trial of dozens of men accused of rapes that occurred there over almost a decade has apologized for comments that appeared to downplay the case.
A federal law enforcement agency confirmed it's opened an investigation into Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he allegedly cut off the head of a dead whale and took it home two decades ago.
Israel’s military has struck the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, in a dramatic escalation in a year-long period of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lawyers in Britain representing dozens of alleged victims of Mohamed Al Fayed, the former boss of Harrods, said Friday their clients assert that he was a 'monster' who raped and sexually abused young women.
A 20-year-old man and his co-conspirator have been charged with conspiracy to steal and launder over US$230 million in cryptocurrency, and federal authorities said the arrests are connected to an FBI raid of a mansion in Miami.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tapped Treasury Board President Anita Anand to take on additional duties as Canada's minister of transport on Thursday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday, just minutes after Singh announced his party would not be supporting the Conservatives' first non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
The head of Via Rail repeatedly told MPs a train delay over the Labour Day long weekend was an isolated incident, despite a similar event two years ago.
The Nunavut government says it will provide immunization against respiratory syncytial virus to all infants in the territory this fall, a policy change that one pediatric infectious diseases specialist has been advocating for decades.
Ontario’s Minister of Sport, Neil Lumsden, will donate his brain to research.
Software company Mustimuhw Information, which develops medical records systems built on a foundation of Indigenous traditions and values, is allowing health providers to capture data informed by cultural practices.
Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
If something looks too good to be true, it might be. That's the message from Saskatchewan horticulturists after customers have come into their stores hoping to buy purple apple trees this month.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck, which had been sent to the frontline of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Lawyers representing the producers of 'Russians at War' say they may pursue legal action against Ontario's public broadcaster for pulling support for the controversial documentary amid outcry from the Ukrainian community and some Canadian politicians.
Viewers of Jeopardy got a chance to test their knowledge of trivia about B.C.'s biggest city Wednesday night.
British actress Florence Pugh has revealed that shaving her head for her latest movie role was a 'really bizarre' experience that sent her body 'into a bit of trauma.'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says there is a lot of uncertainty around how artificial intelligence could affect the economy moving forward, including the labour market and price growth.
A case involving stolen funds from a Saskatchewan business being used to purchase cryptocurrency will be heading back to the courts, thanks to a new decision by Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal.
Self-service kiosks at McDonald's and other fast-food chains have loomed as job killers since they were first rolled out 25 years ago. But nobody predicted what actually happened.
A new study found that food fussiness in children is “a largely genetic trait,†while other factors, such as the types of foods eaten at home and where meals are eaten, may only be significant when the child is a toddler.
A huge king penguin chick named Pesto, who weighs as much as both his parents combined, has become a social media celebrity and a star attraction at an Australian aquarium.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
The Winnipeg Jets have some huge holes to fill on both offence and defence this season.
Shohei Ohtani became the first major league player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season, with the Los Angeles Dodgers star going deep twice to reach the half-century mark and swiping two bags to get to 51 against the Miami Marlins on Thursday.
Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he's been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season's playoffs.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.
The plant was expected to produce batteries for a million electric vehicles a year. Once up and running, it was supposed to create hundreds of permanent jobs in a small southeastern Ontario municipality. But two years later, spending on the construction of the Umicore plant has been delayed in what the company calls a "significant worsening of the EV market context."
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.
Thousands of protesters are expected to march into downtown Vancouver on Friday, demanding more action from their government to address the growing climate crisis.
There have been more reports of a Bitcoin extortion scam seeking to exploit viewers of "adult content" in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, according to the RCMP.
Getting a bed at one of British Columbia's drug detoxification facilities is like winning the lottery, the vice-president on the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says.
The Ford government is considering restricting Ontario municipalities from installing new bike lanes that would require the removal of lanes of traffic, a source confirms to CTV News Toronto.
For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her 'worst nightmare.' On Feb. 7, her then three-year-old son Jacob along with his father Loc Phu 'Jay' Le departed for what was supposed to be a week-long visit to Vietnam to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family, McArthur says.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Defence counsel for accused murderer John-Christopher Arrizza argues he was in an “altered state of mind†due to days of drug and alcohol use, sleep deprivation and not eating, when he fatally stabbed a man at a Banff nightclub in 2022.
Injury prevention experts are urging Calgarians to ride carefully as e-scooter crashes land hundreds of people in the hospital.
Friday will be cool and wet with intermittent showers likely through most of the day.
CTV News has learned “significant news†is coming Friday regarding ongoing discussions to build a new downtown arena for the Ottawa Senators.
Police say a man, 34, who was taken to hospital in critical condition after being shot Thursday night has died.
The Ford government is considering restricting Ontario municipalities from installing new bike lanes that would require the removal of lanes of traffic, a source confirms to CTV News Toronto.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has invited his Quebec counterpart to the negotiating table to reach an agreement on caribou before Christmas. He noted that the province could benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to protect biodiversity.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
Edmonton police are warning about traffic disruptions on Friday near the headquarters of the Alberta Teachers' Association, where a protest against the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in school curricula will be taking place.
A mother and daughter say they woke up to flames encroaching on their third-floor apartment near Commonwealth Stadium early Friday morning.
The big weather story today won't really be rain, it'll be the cooler and breezier conditions.
A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes "indescribable" pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.
Gas prices increased in all three Maritime provinces for the first time in more than a month.
A section of Herring Cove Road in the Spryfield area of Halifax is closed to traffic in both directions following a single-vehicle collision Friday morning.
The Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) has made an arrest following a fire that claimed the lives of two people.
Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning.
A Winnipeg pet rescue is putting out a warning to dog owners across the city about a possible parvovirus in the province.
Driving into the tunnels of Nutrien's Rocanville mine, the largest potash mine in the world by production volume, feels like driving down a lonely highway in the middle of the night.
Regina police, fire and EMS were called to what appeared to be a three vehicle collision in the east end of the city shortly before 9 a.m. Friday morning.
The second-degree murder trial of Thomas Hamp is being adjourned until December so an expert witness central to the trial can testify.
Amber and Adam Brueckner have a pool-shaped hole in their backyard – and their wallets.
The missing family that was last seen in Kitchener, Ont. on Sept. 1 has been found safe, according to police.
A 43-year-old Guelph woman is wanted after police say she broke into a house and made herself at home.
The second-degree murder trial of Thomas Hamp is being adjourned until December so an expert witness central to the trial can testify.
A gym teacher at a private Christian school in Saskatoon has been charged. Terra MacEwan, 44, is charged with assault with a weapon. A Saskatoon mother who spoke with CTV News says her autistic son was MacEwan's victim.
Driving into the tunnels of Nutrien's Rocanville mine, the largest potash mine in the world by production volume, feels like driving down a lonely highway in the middle of the night.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday, just minutes after Singh announced his party would not be supporting the Conservatives' first non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
A research team in London is looking into whether or not ChatGPT can be used as a diagnostic tool for medical learners and clinicians.
Police say just before 7:00 p.m. four teens entered a business in the 1000 block of Adelaide Street North.
Police were focusing their attention on the northeast corner of Richmond and Horton, with members of the emergency response unit taking up positions at the scene.
Two men from Barrie have been charged after a deadly shooting at a park in Keswick on Wednesday.
The Barrie Transit Field Trip Pass Program offers free elementary and high school transportation for students and teachers, removing the hassle of booking charter buses and managing the costs.
Check your lottery tickets because someone who purchased a ticket in Grey County is an overnight multi-millionaire, having won half of the historic lottery jackpot.
Windsor police say a 25-year-old mother has been charged with the drowning death of her 5-year-old child in the family’s backyard pool.
On Thursday, just after 9:30 a.m., a man was found and taken to police headquarters, where he was released with conditions and a future court date.
Windsor police are asking for help finding a missing 66-year-old man.
In a rare move, the Greater Victoria School District Board of Education has been slapped with a ministerial order from the province requiring it to update a student safety plan – drawing concern around political posturing leading up to an election.
Getting a bed at one of British Columbia's drug detoxification facilities is like winning the lottery, the vice-president on the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says.
The Union of B.C. Municipalities is asking the provincial government to make transit free for teenagers.
A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.
A Vulcan, Alta., man has been charged with a Lethbridge woman's murder after her body was found in the Oyen area.
A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.
Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.
A new community health profile in the Algoma District shows the area is significantly below provincial averages in a number of health metrics.
North Bay Police Service says one person has died following an industrial accident at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Rail Yard on Tuesday.
Three northern Ontario residents are charged with drug trafficking after the vehicle they were in got stuck along a bush road off Highway 17 on Monday.
Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
A 16-year-old biennial event aimed at fostering business in the country's eastern Arctic and northern regions has been cancelled indefinitely as a dispute unfolds between Inuit in Canada and a Labrador group claiming to share their heritage.
Jim Lester’s farm hopped on the cow-cuddling trend in early August, and his time slots have been pretty well sold out ever since.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
