Shell said that its core profits skyrocketed to £68.1bn ($84.3bn) in 2022, surpassing the expectations of industry experts.

This gargantuan profit haul will increase the pressure on prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt to tax energy producers further, with UK households coming under increasing and relentless pressure from their astronomical bills.

Bumper profits by producers in 2022 eventually persuaded the government to launch a windfall tax, called the 'Energy Profits Levy', which was subsequently further strengthened by Hunt.

Shell said that it paid £1.5bn ($1.9bn) in windfall tax charges to the UK and EU.

Labour has accused Sunak of being “too weak” to stand up to oil and gas interests following the news of Shell’s profit increase.

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “As the British people face an energy price hike of 40 per cent in April, the government is letting the fossil fuel companies making bumper profits...