Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Russian Ministry of Defense: 37 Ukrainian drones destroyed in 4 hours over regions of Russia and the Black Sea.
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.

Profit in oil, gas sector explains climate crisis: Analysis

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: The Guardian
  • 22 Jul 2022 10:53
  • 1 Shares
5 Min Read

The staggering amount of profit made by the oil and gas sector explains why government and energy companies have not properly invested and implemented measures to make a shift toward renewables and limit global heat to 1.5 °C.

  • x
  • The oil and gas industry delivered $2.8bn, a day, in pure profit over the past 50 years.
    The oil and gas industry delivered $2.8bn, a day, in pure profit over the past 50 years.

According to a report by The Guardian, a study, yet to be published in an academic journal but has been dubbed as accurate by three experts at University College London, the London School of Economics, and the thinktank Carbon Tracker, revealed that the pure profit of the petrostates and fossil fuel companies is enough to “buy every politician, every system” and delay action on the climate crisis.

The study, authored by Prof. Aviel Verbruggen, assesses the “rent” secured by global oil and gas sales, with "rent" being the economic term for the unearned profit produced after the total cost of production has been deducted. Verbruggen’s analysis revealed, based on World Bank data, that the oil and gas industry delivered $2.8bn, a day, in pure profit over the past 50 years.

This information compiled over the years brings the vast total captured by petrostates and fossil fuel companies since 1970 to a staggering $52tn. These profits were further inflated by cartels of countries that have artificially restricted local supplies. This analysis, which appears to be the first long-term assessment of the oil and gas sector’s total profits, discloses that oil rents make up 86% of the total.

Fossil fuel emissions are to blame for the present heatwaves that are affecting the UK and many other nations in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as for the intensification of extreme weather. For many years, the oil industry has been aware that carbon emissions are severely warming the world.

Verbruggen, energy and environmental economist at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and a former lead author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stated that “I was really surprised by such high numbers – they are enormous,” adding, “It’s a huge amount of money…You can buy every politician, every system with all this money, and I think this happened. It protects [producers] from political interference that may limit their activities.”

The analysis shows that the annual profit, given that the rents captured by exploiting the natural resources are unearned, between 1970 and 2022, was $1tn with an expectation that this number doubles in 2022.

Read more: Activists say energy treaty update failed climate crisis

“It’s real, pure profit. They captured 1% of all the wealth in the world without doing anything for it,” adding that “it’s really stripping money from the alternatives. In every country, people have so much difficulty just to pay the gas and electricity bills and oil [petrol] bill, that we don’t have money left over to invest in renewables.”

Prof Paul Ekins, at University College London, said that some of the rents go to governments in the form of royalties noting that “the fact remains that, over the last 50 years, companies have made a huge amount of money by producing fossil fuels, the burning of which is the major cause of climate change. This is already causing untold misery around the world and is a major threat to future human civilization.”

“At the very least these companies should be investing a far greater share of their profits in moving to low-carbon energy than is currently the case. Until they do so their claims of being part of the low-carbon energy transition are among the most egregious examples of greenwashing.”

In accordance with his colleagues, Mark Campanale, at Carbon Tracker, said that “Not only is the scale of these rents eye-watering, but it is salient to note that, in the midst of a cost of the living crisis caused by record oil and gas prices, this flow of money to a relatively small number of petrostates and energy companies is set to double this year. Shifting to a carbon-neutral energy system based on renewables is the only way to end this madness.”

Verbruggen said oil-rich nations, such as Saudi Arabia, kept rents high by restricting supply. In other words, “they change the fundamentals of the markets.”

Additionally, he added that political and military actions, such as the ban on Iranian oil exports and the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, have raised rents. According to Verbruggen, the price of conventional oil would be between $20 and $30 per barrel, down from the current price of over $100, if all accessible oil and gas could be freely provided to the market.

Campanale argued that “to keep to 1.5 °C, this means [international oil companies alone] forgoing around $100 trillion of potential revenues. You can see why oil oligarchs and nations controlled by political elites want to keep their fossil fuel rents, the source of their power.”

Read more: What Is The Difference Between 1.5°C and 2°C Global Warming?

By way of explanation, what Campanale argued meant that the amount of oil and gas in reserves in currently existing reserves is much higher than what would be burned and profited from if the world decided to implement measures agreed to by nations in the Paris climate agreement in 2015 limiting global heating target of 1.5 °C.

Read more: Greenpeace UK: Global South 'used as a place to dump waste'

  • Analysis
  • Climate change
  • Climate crisis
  • Paris climate agreement
STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

Most Read

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, executive director of the defense division of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, undated (Social media)

Israeli-born US prosecutor drops Israeli officer child sex crime

  • Politics
  • 19 Aug 2025
Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS