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BP accused of ‘grotesque profiteering’ following bumper profits of £4bn in first three months of the year
Activists lock themselves to dirty oil barrels outside BP's headquarters to mark the first day of the oil giant's then new chief executive in St James' Square, London, February 2020

OIL and gas giants were accused of “grotesque profiteering” today after BP reported that it had raked in an eye-watering £4 billion in just three months. 

The mammoth profit total for the first quarter of 2023 was down from the near £5bn the energy firm pocketed in the same period last year following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. 

But the combined profits of both BP and Shell have now hit a whopping £55bn over the last year as gas and electricity bills have more than doubled for Britons already struggling with 40-year high inflation and plummeting take-home pay.

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