Oil and gas giant Shell this morning revealed that first-quarter profits had risen to £7.27billion - nearly treble the figure recorded for the same period in 2021.
Energy production companies around the world have seen profits jump due to big rises in the price of oil and gas.
In Britain, this has sparked calls for a windfall tax on energy producers. Labour has proposed an increase of 10% on Corporation Tax to raise £1.2billion which could be used to help households struggling to cope with much-higher energy bills.
However, research published by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce last week revealed that the Treasury has already banked £1.5billion more in oil and gas receipts in the first three months of 2022 than it did over the same period in 2021.
One factor behind more expensive oil and gas is Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia has been one of the world's major energy exporters.
However, oil and gas prices were already rising before the Ukraine war as economies started to recover from the Covid pandemic.
Following the invasion, Shell said it would exit its joint ventures with Russian energy company Gazprom and related entities, a move which has cost it $3.9bn (£3.1bn).
Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said in his statement with the first-quarter results: "The war in Ukraine is first and foremost a human tragedy, but it has also caused significant disruption to global energy markets and has shown that secure, reliable and affordable energy simply cannot be taken for granted.
"The impacts of this uncertainty and the higher cost that comes with it are being felt far and wide.
"We have been engaging with governments, our customers and suppliers to work through the challenging implications and provide support and solutions where we can.
"Generating value through strong earnings and cash flow, coupled with maintaining a healthy balance sheet and continuing the disciplined delivery of our strategy, are crucial for Shell to play a leading role in the energy transition.
"This allows us to support our customers as they shift to cleaner energy. It's also the best way for us to contribute to the security of energy supplies.
"Today's results, the progress we are making with our $8.5billion (£6.77billion) share buyback programme and the reduction of our net debt to $48.5billion (£38.63billion) all show we remain on track, and give us the confidence to plan future shareholder distributions and disciplined investments that will accelerate our strategy."
At the end of March, Shell unveiled plans to invest £20billion-£25billion in the UK energy system over the next 10 years.
More than 75% of this is intended for low and zero-carbon products and services, including offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage and electric mobility.