Greasing the Wheels

The Glorious Successor has done his green credentials a power of good by informing the oil companies that they should keep pumping oil. "We do need the oil coming out of the North Sea, we do need to encourage the new exploration," he said. "That is more expensive to do. That is why I hope that these profits are going to be invested in getting more oil out of the North Sea", rather than on executive bonuses as is traditional, or on research into sustainable energy as is unthinkable. Shell and BP have made seven thousand million pounds in profits during the first quarter of the year, despite Shell's financial director being unable to "understand the oil price at this stage" and observing that "the fundamentals do not justify the oil price at this level". Apparently it's all the fault of financial speculators, who have done penance by increasing the value of shares in both Shell and BP.