THE owner of the Rosebank oilfield announced today that it made £24 billion in global profits last year and plans to halve international spending on renewable energy.

Equinor has made £141bn since the start of the energy crisis in 2020, according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

The Norwegian state oil giant also said planned reductions in renewables spending were to adjust “ambitions to realities.”

Tessa Khan of Uplift, a coalition member, said Equinor is an “obscenely profitable company that has dined out on the energy crisis, while millions of ordinary people in this country have struggled with unaffordable energy bills.”

She added there is “next to no case” for developing Rosebank, which the Scottish courts ruled unlawful last week.

“Its reserves won’t power British cars or industries — but will further line the pockets of the Norwegian government’s massive oil fund,” she said.

“The vast majority of Rosebank’s oil will be sold on the international market for export, doing nothing to lower energy bills or increase energy security in the UK.

“And yet the UK public will pick up most of the costs of developing the field thanks to generous tax breaks.

“We need to call time on Equinor’s profiteering.”

Warm This Winter campaign’s Caroline Simpson called the profits “outrageous,” highlighting that 6.5m people in Britain live in fuel poverty and billpayers are spending £700 more on energy since the crisis began.

She warned oil and gas firms are “keeping us hooked on fossil fuels” to uphold high prices and that the only way to secure Britain’s energy supply and lower bills is by increasing “homegrown renewable energy.”

“New oil fields, like Rosebank, will do nothing to help ordinary people,” she said.