OIL giant BP's profit was more than half a billion pounds more than expected in the first three months of the year as the business continued to benefit from elevated energy prices.
Bosses revealed on Tuesday that the company made just under five billion US dollars (£4 billion) in underlying replacement cost profit between January and March, citing a strong performance in its oil trading business.
It is a reduction from last year - when the business rested on extremely high energy prices - but apart from that is the best result that BP has reported in at least a decade.
The drop from last year was largely thanks to the fact that BP got less money for the oil and gas that it sold, although this was partly offset by an exceptional performance from its gas marketing division.
It is also around $700 million (£560 million) more than analysts who follow the oil major had thought it would make.
Chief executive Bernard Looney said: "This has been a quarter of strong performance and strategic delivery as we continue to focus on safe and reliable operations."
The profit immediately sparked criticism, including from shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband, who called it "unearned" and "unexpected windfalls of war".
BP has already been hit by extra windfall taxes on the profits it makes from pumping oil and gas from UK waters.
However critics have said the tax allows energy companies to get away with not paying much of it if they invest in drilling for more oil and gas.
"These enormous profits are the unearned, unexpected windfalls of war. And every excess pound that the energy giants rake in is at the expense of British families," Mr Miliband said.
"Yet, after all this time, the Tory windfall tax is still full of get-out clauses with billions being bunged at oil and gas companies in special subsidies not available in any other part of the energy sector."
BP said it expects oil prices to remain high after a recent decision by Opec+, a cartel of oil-producing countries, to restrict production in order to keep prices up.
Demand from China will also serve to put upwards pressure on both the cost of oil and the cost of liquid natural gas.
In February, BP reported record profits for 2022 as the company - along with the rest of the energy sector - benefitted from the surge in oil and gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It has led to big profits for energy companies, but also fuelled a rise in energy bills for households and businesses.
Nick Butler, a former BP executive and visiting professor at Kings College London, told the BBC Today programme that the strong results had come "from a good internal business performance but also from high prices around the world".
But said the firm's profits were likely to "come down quite a lot this year" as oil and gas prices were falling back, adding: "That will have an impact on the revenue they get and the taxes they pay."
Labour would use the profits made by BP and other fossil fuel companies to freeze council tax, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the Labour Leader said that "of course we want BP and others to make profits so they can invest", but that these profits are "over and above" what BP expected and should contribute to a "proper windfall tax".
"What we say in the Labour Party is use that money, have a proper windfall tax that's effective and use that money directly to freeze council tax," he said.
"The government has loopholes in the windfall tax they've put in place, so they aren't using their money effectively," he added.
Sir Keir said that the number one issue ahead of Thursday's local elections in Britain is the cost of living crisis.
He said: "Labour is choosing to in this case, use those excess profits, use a proper windfall tax, and use that directly to help people with the bills that they're struggling with."
