31st October 2023, LONDON - As BP today reports Q3 profits of £2.7 billion ($3.3 billion), a new Global Witness analysis reveals how much the company has paid shareholders since January 2022.
Our new analysis finds that since January 2022, when energy and costs of living crises were hitting the UK, BP has paid dividends of £6.5 billion ($7.9 billion) and repurchased shares worth £13.6 billion ($16.6 billion), giving shareholders a total of £20.1 billion ($24.5 billion).
BP’s shareholder pay-outs since the start of 2022 could pay the average heating bills for 10.6 million households – over a third of the total.
In 2023 alone, BP has paid shareholders £8.2 billion ($10.2 billion).
Jonathan Noronha-Gant, Global Witness, Senior Campaigner, said:
“BP is still riding the wave of the energy crisis, shovelling cash to its shareholders while the UK’s poverty rates spiral. The government is allowing BP to make off with the heist of the century – worse still, this government are subsidising big oil firms with billions of taxpayers' money. We need a proper people-first windfall tax now.”
Note to Editors:
- Underlying data and calculations available upon request.