Oil giant Shell will pay around $2billion (£1.7bn) in UK and EU windfall taxes for the last three months of trading. Bosses at the London firm had said in October the company had not paid any windfall taxes due to its heavy investment in the North Sea.
But speaking to investors this morning, the company said its earnings will fall during the final three months of 2022 due to the UK energy profits levy and additional EU taxes. In May, the Government announced a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. This initially started at 25 per cent but in November the Chancellor said this would be increased further to 35 per cent.
In the third quarter, Shell benefited from an 80 per cent investment allowance linked to the UK windfall tax. This meant that its windfall tax was heavily reduced.
In total, Shell said it now expects to have paid between $4.3bn and $4.7bn in global taxes over the fourth quarter.
On Friday, the oil giant also revealed that trading in its chemicals business is expected to have been “significantly lower” in the final quarter of 2022 compared with the previous quarter. It added that its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production over the quarter was impacted by major outages at two plants in Australia.
The group is due to publish its full results for the 2022 financial year on February 2.
