RE: Media Coverage Big Oil - No-one Mentions % BP Profits are overseas FFS1 Nov 2022 19:30
Jesus its all happening tonight - A positive article from the FT on the unfairness of the Wt on small producers - 'A windfall tax that raises a big fat doughnut from one of the UK’s largest oil and gas producers at a time of record prices is, by its very definition, imperfect, even if Shell has indicated it expects to start paying tax in the UK next year. That BP has been caught in the taxman’s net has done little to dampen calls for the windfall tax to be overhauled, with opposition politicians in the UK zeroing in on the disconnect between record profits for big-name energy producers while households are struggling to afford heating. BP and Shell’s divergent tax bills highlight UK windfall flaws.
We need a simplified system that ensures a fair government take and encourages green investment
Both BP and Shell produce about 120,000 barrels of oil a day equivalent from their fields on the UK continental shelf, vying to be the third largest producers, despite their differing tax payments. Private equity backed Harbour Energy, the biggest UK North Sea producer (having bought a lot of Shell’s old fields), has said it expects to pay about $500mn in UK taxes this year while France’s TotalEnergies, the second largest, has said it expects to pay somewhere in the region of $1bn under the UK’s windfall tax.
This hodgepodge of payments is a poor reflection on a North Sea tax system mired in complexity and misaligned incentives. A system that taxed oil and gas production first rather than zeroing in on profits would ensure the government’s take from the exploitation of an irreplaceable natural resource was never zero.
AT LAST COMMON SENSE and the Media stating the injustice to HBR in Print very happy.
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