CEOs of Britain’s biggest energy companies have made ‘millions’ in personal share wealth since the outbreak of the war in Iran.
Analysis of public holdings and reports published by non-profits Campaign Collective and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition show that bosses at British and international energy companies have made millions in personal stock value since the start of the Middle East crisis.
The groups looked at reports from February 26 to March 27; the full-scale conflict in Iran began on February 28.
The documents show that Linda Z Cook, head of Harbor Energy, saw her shares in the company rise by £4m to £26m. This is approximately €1 million per week. Harbor accounts for around 15% of Britain’s domestic oil and gas production, the groups said.
Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell, has earned £1.8 million since the start of the war, bringing his shareholding to £13.2 million. Chris O’Shea, head of Centrica (the owner of British Gas) has made around £300,000 in share value. Campaign Collective said this push came “even as the boss of the British Gas owner told the BBC this month that higher household bills were “inevitable” and had previously said it was “inevitable”.impossible to justify“his salary and compensation package.”
BP’s interim boss, Carol Howle, saw her shares grow by around £500,000. She was replaced last week by new CEO Meg O’Neill.
“There are very few winners from the conflict in the Middle East, and most of them are the wealthy oil and gas bosses who help set the prices we all pay for our energy,” said Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.
International oil and gas companies have seen even bigger share price gains. The head of Chevron, Michael Wirth, saw his stake in his company increase by £44 million in one month, and the heads of ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies also saw a multi-million pound jump.
The head of Equinor, the Norwegian state-backed gas company on which Britain depends for much of its gas supply, Anders Opedal, saw his personal stake in the company increase by around £700,000.
British energy prices are set to rise
The conflict in the Middle East is expected to cause significant energy price increases for British households. Cornwall Insight predicts that a significant increase in the energy price cap for July will be “inevitable”, largely due to the conflict. A A 20% jump could be in store for Julywhile the analysts predict the price ceiling will reach £1,929.
“It’s appalling that while millions worry about their energy bills, we see energy barons raking in millions in profits. A North Sea CEO has seen their wealth increase by £4 million since the start of the conflict in Iran – that’s an extra million a week,” said Robert Palmer, deputy director of energy activism group Uplift.
The data shows that twelve of the largest energy companies added a combined £233 billion in market capitalization over the course of the conflict. This indicates that financial markets expect companies to generate significantly higher profits.
This morning, the US and Iran declared a two-week ceasefire, causing oil prices to fall in response.
This is not the first time questions have been raised about the relationship between energy sector profits and UK energy prices. Last year, Solar energy portal spoke to trade union Unite about the discovery that UK energy companies had made £30 billion in profits by 2024, around three times the average for the entire economy, even though energy bills had risen by more than 40% since 2021.
The head of the union said the public was being “deceived” by profiteering in the energy sector. Conservative Shadow Energy Minister Clare Coutinho has previously said that “green levies” (charges used to finance renewable energy projects) are driving up energy bills; the cost of this will be less than a third of the sector’s profits in 2024, and energy prices – and possibly profits – are expected to be much higher in 2026 than in 2024.
North Sea gas, windfall tax
The war energy shock in Iran has led to calls for more fossil fuel extraction in the North Sea. Figures such as Greg Jackson, head of Octopus Energy, and the Chief Executive of GB Energy have backed more extraction from the North Sea, while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch launched a campaign to ‘get Britain drilling’.
Some experts have said that drilling in the North Sea would make little or no difference to Britain’s energy bills, and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has consistently resisted issuing new permits.
The arguments focused on the fact that Britain buys gas on the international wholesale market and the amount left in the North Sea is unlikely to affect the price, and that Britain has been gradually producing less gas for years, before the Net Zero or energy transition policies.
Britain would also not own the extracted fuel and could not control its price, as fossil fuel companies would.
“[Oil and gas] companies are using this crisis to argue for even more drilling in the North Sea. This would not save a cent on bills, but would lock us into an unaffordable energy supply for longer and increase oil company profits even further,” Palmer said.
Francis said similarly: “While these fossil fuel leaders argue for more drilling in the North Sea and bank on the profits they will make from each new exploration, millions of British households are faced with the prospect of spending more than a tenth of their income just to keep the lights on and the heating on.”
There are economic arguments for more drilling in the North Sea, such as creating more jobs and increasing energy security where possible, but its potential to reduce energy bills has been widely debunked.
Some have argued that Chancellor Rachel Reeves should scrap the windfall tax on energy profits to encourage more investment in the North Sea. It was introduced during the energy crisis that followed the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The windfall tax only affects corporate profits, which are on track to grow significantly depending on the growth of the sector’s market capitalization. It is not a tax on activities or fuel extracted.
“The oil and gas industry has made it clear that the only way it would now consider investing in the North Sea, an ultra-mature and precious basin, is if the government abolishes the windfall tax, which is shameful,” Palmer said. “We need political leaders who will put bill payers above billionaires and not give in to their demands.”
Caitlin Boswell, interim deputy director at Tax Justice UK, went further, saying that in addition to an energy windfall, the government should also pursue higher taxes on personal wealth and share values, which would hit executives like Harbour’s Cook.
“This must be accompanied by a reform of the tax system that ensures that huge increases in asset prices, such as shares in energy companies, are taxed fairly,” Boswell said. “If this doesn’t happen, the share price booms will funnel huge sums of money into the pockets of the super-rich, while leaving millions in Britain more vulnerable to the cost of living.”
Francis concluded: “Politicians must show which side they are on: the households struggling with energy bills, or the millionaires calling for an early end to the windfall tax on North Sea profits.”
