Royal Dutch Shell received a huge UK tax credit due to North Sea decommissioning costs
Courtney Goldsmith: Tuesday 13 June 2017 3:00pm
Royal Dutch Shell paid over $55.6bn (£43.7bn) to 31 governments last year, but in the UK it received a tax credit as a result of decommissioning costs, according to a report.
Shell received a $142.5m tax credit in the UK primarily for decommissioning costs in its North Sea business, according to the oil major’s report on payments to governments where it and its subsidiaries have upstream operations.
The firm paid $8.17bn to the UK government in fees.
Shell has dismantled the Brent Delta platform in the North Sea, which stopped production in 2011.
Brent Alpha and Bravo ceased production in 2014, while the Charlie platform will continue to produce oil “for some time”, Shell said earlier this year.
Read more: Investors push Shell to detail how bonuses will be tied to carbon emissions
In 2016, the Anglo-Dutch firm paid a total of $4.4bn in income taxes, $2.3bn in government royalties and collected $48.9bn in excise duties, sales tax and similar levies on fuel and other products on behalf of governments.
The countries with the highest payments were Nigeria ($3.64bn), Malaysia ($2.67bn) and Norway ($2.53bn).
“Shell believes that transparency is an essential tool in building trust in tax systems. Society expects clarity on the revenues that extractive industries pay to governments and at the same time expects governments to be open about the revenues they receive and how they use these funds,” said Shell’s chief financial officer, Jessica Uhl.
Read more: Shell shareholders approve CEO Ben van Beurden’s pay
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
