Mansion-owning Shell boss dismisses cost of living crisis while raking in record profits since Ukraine war
THE mega-rich boss of Shell sparked outrage yesterday by shrugging off the fears of consumers struggling with rocketing fuel bills.
Fat cat Ben van Beurden’s company made £9.5billion profit in the past three months alone — more than double the same period last year — on the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Sun asked him how he could justify this the day after Brits learned energy bills could hit almost £4,000 next year.
The Dutchman, on £6.2million a year, said: “We cannot perform miracles. I’m very mindful that is a difficult message to hear, but it is what it is”. He added only a “miracle” could help consumers with their soaring bills.
Shell not only rakes in cash from forecourt sales. It produces and imports oil and gas which is then sold to energy companies, manufacturers and industries.
The firm has profited so much from rising prices that it will hand £6.5billion to shareholders — and potentially even more later this year.
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Van Beurden said: “Of course, I’m very aware of the difficulties and the hardship. I’m also very much aware of the difficulty to explain how this is actually a global problem, and a problem that has come about by policy decisions that have been taken.”
But MP Darren Jones — whose Business, Industrial, Energy and Strategy select committee held an inquiry into the energy market — insisted: “They haven’t made this money because they are brilliant.
“They have made this money because Russia invaded Ukraine.”
He added: “The main driver of inflation has been high energy bills.
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“It’s in businesses’ interest to not tip the country into recession. It’s very short-sighted for them to redistribute their wealth through share-buybacks instead of helping customers.”
Campaigner Howard Cox, of FairFuelUK, said: “Shell has no humility — wallowing in such obscene profits that are completely down to an increase in global oil prices. These profits are down to speculators gambling on the Ukrainian crisis.
“These greedy billion pound businesses continue to operate without fear of genuine political scrutiny.
“I hope the big shareholders can sleep well knowing millions are struggling just to pay to heat their homes or fill their tanks to drive to work and medical appointments.”
Shell sold its Russian retail business in May but it still received a £138million dividend in April from its Russian oil and gas venture, part of Sakhalin Energy, because the consortium is registered in Bermuda.
Van Beurden said Shell did not make a profit from supplying energy directly to UK households, but it has profited enormously from wholesale energy prices soaring.
The 64-year-old has pocketed more than £70million in his time as CEO and is looking to buy a mansion in London after Shell moved its headquarters to the UK last year.
He has been given an undisclosed relocation and housing allowance and is selling his £5.2million eight-bed villa in Holland. It boasts marble floors and manicured lawns.
At a time when Brits are struggling to keep up with rising food, fuel and energy bills, his pay jumped by more than a quarter last year and is 57 times more than the average Shell employee.
He is also on the board of Mercedes-Benz and said in 2017 he drives a £90,000 S-class hybrid.
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Van Beurden — whose full name is Bernardus Cornelis Adriana Margriet van Beurden — previously lived in West London with his Australian wife Stacey and his four children.
In February he sold 190,000 of his shares at an average price of £20.40 per share, raking in another £3.876million. He attended a state banquet for the Mexican president at Buckingham Palace in 2015, one for the King and Queen of the Netherlands in 2018 and another the next year for US President Donald Trump.
