Downing Street opened the door to extending the windfall tax on energy firms yesterday after Shell revealed it had raked in £8.2billion in profits without paying a penny under the existing scheme.
No 10 said 'nothing is off the table' in next month's Budget as ministers scramble to fill a £40billion black hole in the public finances.
Cabinet Office minister Nadhim Zahawi said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt would 'look at every decision' ahead of the November 17 Budget.
Treasury sources confirmed that ministers were considering options to extend the existing Energy Profits Levy, but said no decisions had been taken.
Shell revealed it had raked in £8.2billion in profits without paying a penny under the existing scheme
No 10 also refused to rule out a windfall tax on the banks, which are set to make bumper profits because of the surge in interest rates.
Shell's £8.2billion profits between July and September followed on from the previous three months when it accumulated a record £10billion.
The results mean Europe's largest oil and gas group is on course to smash its annual profit record of £27billion set in 2008 as the firm has already reported earnings of more than £26billion in the first nine months of the year.
Shell is Europe's biggest oil and gas company, with 80,000 employees globally in a business that includes drilling for oil and gas, operating petrol forecourts and a growing electricity generation operation.
In May this year, the Energy Profits Levy - or windfall tax - on the profits of energy firms was announced by the then chancellor Mr Sunak, who said at the time that it would raise £5billion in its first year.
Cabinet Office minister Nadhim Zahawi said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (right) would 'look at every decision' ahead of the November 17 Budget