Firms’ bleating would fade if sum is as little as £3bn, as models suggest, and levy is applied only rarely
“We’re a cash machine at these types of prices,” Bernard Looney, BP’s chief executive, cheerfully declared last November when the price of a barrel of Brent fetched $85 (£60). Now a barrel costs $105, so it’s safe to predict that BP will be swimming in dollars when it reports first-quarter profits next Tuesday, even allowing for its well-flagged whack from getting out of Russia.
The billions on show on Thursday at Shell, the larger company, will be even greater. Cue another round of debate about the merits of a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas producers.
