Oil companies have earned an additional EUR 81 million a day in the European Union since the start of the war, according to Greenpeace

Oil companies have earned an additional EUR 81.4 million a day inthe European Union (EU) since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, according to the environmental organisation Greenpeace, which has called for these extraordinary profits to be taxed in order to ease energy bills and invest in renewables.

Greenpeace's "Excessive Oil Gains in Wartime " study, commissioned by energy expert Steffen Bukold, estimates the average price in the first three weeks of March compared to the prices in January and February.

This analysis shows that EU oil companies have had an extraordinary profitof EUR 2.5 billion in March, owing to rising fuel prices since the US and Israel attacks on Iran.

Data on the profits of petrol and diesel in all EU countries show that prices at the supplier have risen much more than those of oil.

"Governments need to introduce higher taxes on all fossil fuel profits as soon as possible and use that money to reduce citizens' energy bills, expand cheap, safe and local production renewables, and help communities affected by the worsening climate crisis," Greenpeace has demanded.

According to the study, the EU's largest extraordinary profits were in large markets, led by Germany, with an extraordinary profit of 23.8 million euros a day, followed by France (11.6 million), Spain (11.5 million) and Italy (10.4 million).

By contrast, the largest increase in the profit margin per litre of diesel was in the Netherlands, with 25.6 cents per litre, followed by Sweden (23.6 cents), Denmark (23 cents) and Austria (22.9 cents), followed by Germany (6.2 cents), Austria (5.1 cents), Spain (2.5 cents) and Denmark (1.9 cents).

"The study concludes that these extraordinary margins are higher in the countries with the highest purchasing power, while profit margins have also been reduced in smaller countries with the lowest purchasing power, especially in Central and Eastern European countries such as Slovakia and Slovenia," the NGO said.

In addition to taxing the oil companies"extraordinary profits to finance the energy transition, Greenpeace has also called for" taxing large and ultra-pollutants "to gradually abandon fossil fuels and avoid losses and climate damage.