BP records record profits as energy prices soar
BP has reported its biggest quarterly profit for 14 years after oil and gas prices soared.
The energy giant saw underlying profits hit £6.9 billion (€8.2 billion) between April and June - more than triple the amount it made in the same period last year.
It comes as typical household energy bills have been forecast to hit more than £3,600 a year this winter.
The bumper profits have prompted calls for the government to tax firms further to help families with rising bills.
BP's profits were the second highest for the second quarter in the firm's history and follow record profits from rival Shell and huge earnings from British Gas owner Centrica.
Dale Vince, the founder of energy supplier Ecotricity said BP was "holding a shedload of money that is coming from hard-pressed bill-payers in our country", adding he believed it was time to increase taxation on the profits of oil and gas companies.
"Clearly there are exceptional windfall profits in the oil and gas sector, and clearly there's a problem in the energy market, and we should fix one with the other," he told the BBC's Today programme.
The energy giant saw underlying profits hit £6.9 billion (€8.2 billion) between April and June - more than triple the amount it made in the same period last year.
It comes as typical household energy bills have been forecast to hit more than £3,600 a year this winter.
The bumper profits have prompted calls for the government to tax firms further to help families with rising bills.
BP's profits were the second highest for the second quarter in the firm's history and follow record profits from rival Shell and huge earnings from British Gas owner Centrica.
Dale Vince, the founder of energy supplier Ecotricity said BP was "holding a shedload of money that is coming from hard-pressed bill-payers in our country", adding he believed it was time to increase taxation on the profits of oil and gas companies.
"Clearly there are exceptional windfall profits in the oil and gas sector, and clearly there's a problem in the energy market, and we should fix one with the other," he told the BBC's Today programme.
