As the oil and gas giant Shell posts quarterly profits of £5.1bn, Imogen Dow, warm homes campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:“Buoyed by last year’s bumper profits – the biggest in Shell’s history – the company is going full steam ahead with plans to extract every last drop of oil and gas it can. And it was revealed as the main beneficiary of the new North Sea production licenses awarded earlier this week.
“We’re told these have been granted in the name of strengthening our energy security, but plundering our remaining fossil fuel stocks will do nothing to bring down the sky-high energy bills millions of households are bracing for yet again this winter.
“The government has failed to roll out the measures that will actually make a difference – a street-by-street insulation programme and a massive push to increase the production of cheap, homegrown renewable energy.
“The companies fuelling the climate and energy crises continue to cash in at our expense. Meanwhile, consumers remain dangerously exposed to future price shocks and volatile gas markets, which are increasingly threatened by global instability. It hardly needs saying that we must get off expensive and harmful oil and gas for good.”
ENDS
For more information and interview requests contact the Friends of the Earth press office on 020 7566 1649 or email media@foe.co.uk.
Notes to editors
1. About Friends of the Earth: Friends of the Earth is an international community dedicated to the protection of the natural world and the wellbeing of everyone in it. We bring together more than two million people in 75 countries, combining people power all over the world to transform local actions into global impact. For more information visit: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/ follow us at @friends_earth, or like our Facebook page. Save paper and send an e-card today, available at http://foe.uk/ecogifting
Shell quarterly profits – Friends of the Earth reaction
As the oil and gas giant Shell posts quarterly profits of £5.1bn, Imogen Dow, warm homes campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:
“Buoyed by last year’s bumper profits – the biggest in Shell’s history – the company is going full steam ahead with plans to extract every last drop of oil and gas it can. And it was revealed as the main beneficiary of the new North Sea production licenses awarded earlier this week.
“We’re told these have been granted in the name of strengthening our energy security, but plundering our remaining fossil fuel stocks will do nothing to bring down the sky-high energy bills millions of households are bracing for yet again this winter.
“The government has failed to roll out the measures that will actually make a difference – a street-by-street insulation programme and a massive push to increase the production of cheap, homegrown renewable energy.
“The companies fuelling the climate and energy crises continue to cash in at our expense. Meanwhile, consumers remain dangerously exposed to future price shocks and volatile gas markets, which are increasingly threatened by global instability. It hardly needs saying that we must get off expensive and harmful oil and gas for good.”
ENDS
For more information and interview requests contact the Friends of the Earth press office on 020 7566 1649 or email media@foe.co.uk.
Notes to editors
1. About Friends of the Earth: Friends of the Earth is an international community dedicated to the protection of the natural world and the wellbeing of everyone in it. We bring together more than two million people in 75 countries, combining people power all over the world to transform local actions into global impact. For more information visit: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/ follow us at @friends_earth, or like our Facebook page. Save paper and send an e-card today, available at http://foe.uk/ecogifting
