Profits of Britain’s largest North Sea oil and gas company set to skyrocket 750% after surge in energy prices
Profits for Britain’s largest North Sea oil and gas company are expected to rise by 750 percent following the surge in energy prices.
Harbor Energy is expected to have made £2.2 billion pre-tax last year, up from £260 million in 2021, according to City projections compiled by Refinitiv.
In profit: Harbor Energy is expected to have made £2.2 billion pre-tax last year
The profit increase at the company – the largest producer in the North Sea – is due to rising oil and gas prices since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has also caused household bills to skyrocket. But the company is bracing itself to take a major hit from the government’s windfall tax.
Harbor – which also operates in Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico and Norway – lost its place in the FTSE 100 in December following a share price fall following a windfall tax extension in November.
The chief executive, 64-year-old American Linda Cook, had publicly pleaded with the chancellor not to raise the levy as it would risk ‘driving investment out of the UK altogether’.
The £2.5bn company has since said its shareholders have urged the company to focus new investment abroad.