Friday, February 10, 2006

Gassing On About Oil Companies


It’s been an unusually active Friday morning in our village cul-de-sac. The recycling (red) wheely bin had to go out early for the dustcart; the last of the Christmas bills came through in a “bills only” post delivery from Royal Mail; and we took delivery of yet another batch of liquid gas to satisfy the huge thirst of our Aga cooker and heating system.

I used to scratch my head when the oil companies publish their annual results. Shell and BP this year (like every year) complain that virtually none of the paltry £25 billion profits they make comes from sales on the petrol forecourt. The profits come from “finding and extracting oil”. What a load of codswallop! The amount of liquid gas consumed by our Aga each winter doesn’t fully cover Shell’s share (£13.2 billion) of the profit pool, but it comes close. I’m tempted to join Friends of the Earth who suggest that the government should act to curtail these companies making quite so much money out of climate change and political circumstance. The suggested windfall tax could then be used to subsiding an alternative, cleaner, more efficient heating system for our kitchen.