Energy giant Shell made one of the biggest ever profits by a UK company last year as soaring oil and gas prices, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, doubled its earnings to a record $39.9 billion dollars (£32.2 billion).
The vast scale of the profit at the multinational, which supplies energy to 1.4 million UK households and runs one of Britain’s biggest network of fuel forecourts, is set to trigger calls for an even bigger increase in the windfall tax on energy companies to help consumer ride out the cost of living crisis.