Cheaper energy will take ‘miracle’, says Shell

ONLY a “miracle” can stop household energy bills from soaring this winter as Europe confronts a major gas crisis, Shell’s chief executive has warned.

Ben van Beurden said soaring energy prices were a global problem that could not be solved quickly because of the time it took to deliver new projects.

He said the industry had under invested “to the tune of a trillion dollars” in recent years but that the Covid pandemic and policy decisions by governments supportive of green power projects were partly to blame. Rocketing wholesale prices could see households pay £500 for energy in January alone, consultants at BFY have predicted, after Russia drastically reduced gas flows to Europe.

Asked to justify Shell’s record-breaking quarterly profit of $11.5bn (£9.5bn) as families faced “terrible” financial pressure, Mr van Beurden said: “Of course, I’m very aware of the difficulties and the hardship that may well come.

“I’m also very much aware of the difficulty to explain how this is actually a global problem, and a problem that has come about by policy decisions that have been taken. It’s fair to say that the industry has significantly underinvested.”

He added: “We are working very hard to bring on new supplies wherever we can as quickly as possible. And where hardship exists, we provide relief to individual consumers who need it. But we cannot perform miracles either. I’m very mindful that that is a difficult message to hear, but it is what it is.”

Shell revealed that profits during the three months to the end of June soared to $11.5bn, up from $5.5bn a year earlier.