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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Larry Elliott

Will Sunak or Truss make booming oil and gas firms pay to help consumers?

Oil rigs in the Moray Firth off Scotland.
Oil rigs in the Moray Firth off Scotland. Photograph: Richard Wood/Alamy

BP has done well out of the war in Ukraine. Soaring oil and gas prices that followed Russia’s invasion in February meant quarterly profits have tripled to just under £7bn. Only once, when oil prices hit a record level of almost $150 a barrel 15 years ago, has the energy giant posted higher profits.

It was only two years ago that oil prices briefly went negative in the early stages of the pandemic, but the big energy companies can expect little public sympathy.

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