8 oil companies make $93bn profit in 3 months amid Iran war, heatwaves
Representational image. Reuters.
Amid rising fuel prices due to the Iran war and deadly heatwaves driven by the climate crisis caused by fossil fuel emissions, eight of the world's largest oil companies have made over $90 billion in profit in just three months.
This has reignited calls for oil and gas companies like Saudi Aramco and BP to take responsibility for environmental damage and to fund a rapid transition to renewable energy.
An analysis shows that in the three months ending in June, the eight companies—Aramco, BP, Shell, Equinor, TotalEnergies, Eni, Chevron, and ExxonMobil—made nearly $93 billion in profit. This was the first full financial quarter since global oil prices surged above $126 per barrel following the start of the US-Israeli war in Iran.
In the same period last year, the companies' combined profit was just under $50 billion—meaning it has nearly doubled in one year. According to calculations, during those three spring months, the companies made over $700,000 in profit per minute.
The highest profit came from Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco. Its quarterly net income rose 34% to over $33 billion—despite infrastructure damage from drone and missile attacks by Iranian and Houthi forces.
BP reported on Tuesday that its profit for the April–June quarter was $5.73 billion, more than double the $2.5 billion from the previous three months. Shell posted nearly $9.84 billion, and Equinor $3.2 billion.
In the US, Chevron made $12.2 billion and ExxonMobil $14.5 billion. Even US President Donald Trump criticized the profits of the two companies, accusing them of "profiteering" from the Iran war and warning that the profits should be returned to the people.
In stark contrast to the massive profits of fuel companies, the climate crisis has become more severe. This summer, Europe experienced its most devastating heatwave in history. Scientists have said that such a heatwave would have been "impossible" without human-caused global warming. The extreme temperatures are believed to have killed nearly 20,000 people, including about 3,000 in the UK alone in May and June.
South Korea and Japan have also seen temperatures rise to 42.5 degrees Celsius. Various regions in Africa also faced unprecedented heat in July.
Due to the climate crisis, prolonged heatwaves in Europe have dried up soil and caused severe droughts. This is damaging the production of various crops, including corn and sunflowers. It is feared that Europe could see a loss of at least 9 million tons of grain production.
Due to the dry weather, devastating wildfires have spread across France, Spain, Portugal, and Greece, causing billions of euros in damage. In North America, July's wildfires have also been linked to thousands of deaths from heat and air pollution.
In South Asia, the climate crisis is increasing the risk of excessive rainfall and flash floods. In early July, Chattogram, Bangladesh, recorded over 40 centimeters of rainfall in 24 hours, leading to flash floods. Pakistan and India have also seen deaths from floods and landslides. In China, heavy rainfall has forced many people to evacuate to safer areas.
UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell has said that climate-related disasters around the world have reached a "nightmare level." According to him, the urgent priorities now are to rapidly reduce the use of coal, oil, and gas, scale up renewable energy, and protect affected people.
Source: The Guardian
