Strong BP profit renews call for energy sector windfall tax

LONDON (AP) — BP posted its highest quarterly profit in more than a decade thanks to surging oil and gas prices. The earnings report Tuesday renewed calls for a U.K. government tax on energy companies’ windfall earnings to help households struggling with rising energy bills. The British energy giant said that underlying profit more than doubled in the first three months of the year to $6.2 billion. It reports a net loss of $23 billion after accounting for the write-off of its stake in Russian oil producer Rosneft over the Ukraine war. Opposition parties are calling for the U.K. government to tax energy companies that make unexpectedly big profits to help people struggling to get by.