DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK): MPs call on oil majors to share profits in 'fuel poverty' fight: Big oil companies should either donate some of their record profits to help combat fuel poverty or face a windfall tax, a select committee of MPs said yesterday.: “BP and Shell recently announced combined profits of £18billion for 2004.” (ShellNews.net) 24 March 05

By Malcolm Moore (Filed: 24/03/2005) 

Martin O'Neill, Labour chairman of the Trade and Industry select committee, said: "They have made profits which they have not earned in the sense that they have not done anything differently from what they normally do. We think they should make some contribution to repair the damage that high [energy] prices have done to the poor.

BP and Shell recently announced combined profits of £18billion for 2004. A household suffers fuel poverty if it pays more than 10pc of its income in energy bills.

The committee said it had not suggested a new tax on the oil companies because it is "not sure what sums are involved" but Mr O'Neill indicated they would be "sizeable". He added: "They might wish to jump before they are pushed. They will probably prefer to give away the money before they are taxed. Future Chancellors may not be able to resist low-hanging fruit like this."

There was no increase in tax on North Sea oil companies in the Budget, although the Treasury rescheduled the timing of the payments to raise £1.1billion. A spokesman for BP said: "The Treasury already benefits from high oil prices."

The committee had more harsh words for the North Sea gas companies, claiming the market was far from transparent, and that the "wholesale market in the UK will malfunction".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/03/24/cnoil24.xml

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