(Paris) The financial results of Shell and TotalEnergies reignited the debate on “superprofits” on Thursday with the announcement, between them, of more than 13 billion dollars in profits in three months, fueled by the rise in oil prices. energy that stifles the purchasing power of consumers on a daily basis.
Posted at 9:48 a.m.
In detail: 6.6 billion dollars of net profit in the third quarter at the French giant and 6.7 billion for Shell. Both benefit from the surge in oil and gas prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, inflation has reached record levels in Europe, with almost 10% in the euro zone in September, and the economy is slowing down.
Enough to fuel the debate on the taxation of these exceptional profits and the sharing with employees – a subject also propelled to the fore by the long strike in the French refineries of TotalEnergies, which continues to cause fuel shortages in the stations. -service.
“Employees are right to ask for 10% wage increases” after this 43% jump in quarterly profits over one year, tweeted French MP Thomas Portes, of La France insoumise (LFI).
PHOTO STEPHANE MAHE, REUTERS
Salaries and dividends
The leader of the French socialist senators, Patrick Kanner, suggested for his part that TotalEnergies “participate in the national effort to enable the poorest to face the inflationary crisis”.
“So much the better”, launched the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, recalling on the BFM Business channel that the exceptional profits made it possible in particular to finance a discount at the pump, “to increase salaries” and to « give a 13e months to employees”, as the group announced.
The company has also signed an agreement to increase wages in France, to end the strike in its refineries, which continues however on two sites.
But TotalEnergies had, at the end of September, announced the payment of an exceptional dividend to its shareholders of 2.62 billion dollars in total, to “share with its shareholders the results of the company in this context of high prices”.
Another form of shareholder reward, Shell will buy back 4 billion dollars worth of shares by the end of the year – enough to increase the stock market price and return money to investors.
“As Shell continues to cash in billions, how many more households will be pushed into energy poverty before the government responds? “, also reacted the NGO Greenpeace in the United Kingdom.
European tax
“We are going to tax them”, assured the French Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal on Franceinfo, in reference to the European contribution of “solidarity” which should make it possible to tax, for 2022, in particular refining activities.
The Multinationals Observatory estimates that the group should pay between 40 and 65 million dollars in taxes in France in 2022 under this European mechanism, “or barely 0.2% of global profits”, and “640 million to $1 billion” for the EU.
For its part, TotalEnergies estimates at 1 billion euros the amount of the contribution it would have to pay this year in six EU countries, if it were implemented there.
The boss of Shell had called for additional taxes at the beginning of October and said Thursday “to accept” that “governments intervene” while “many people in society are suffering” from inflation.
The boss assured that the group was working with the various governments in Europe on the form that such exceptional taxation could take.
But in the United Kingdom, where such a tax is already in place, the oil giant has so far paid nothing due to high investments – a mechanism which makes it possible to erase this “windfall tax”, criticized for this reason as largely insufficient.