8 April 2020
ROYAL Dutch Shell received around $110 million (£87m) more back from the UK Government in respect of its oil and gas exploration and production activity than it paid in taxes last year, the company has revealed.
In a report on the payments it made to governments in 2019 the oil giant disclosed that it received tax rebates in respect of its UK North Sea business totalling $116 million. These dwarfed the $6.5m that the company paid in fees.
The report highlights the value of the tax relief provided to firms in respect of the costs of decommissioning North Sea facilities.
Shell was paid $74.3m in respect of Northern North Sea decommissioning work last year.
The vast bulk of this related to work on the giant Brent field. Last year Shell removed the second of four platforms used on the field.
It received other tax refunds worth $42m.
The UK Government enacted generous tax reforms to try to encourage firms to invest in the North Sea after activity levels slumped in response to the sharp fall in the crude price between 2014 and 2016.
Could oil giants justify paying out billions more in dividends amid challenges posed by coronavirus?
The plunge in the crude price this year is posing huge challenges for the industry.
Shell invested heavily in recent years in big field developments West of Shetland..
The scale of the repayments made to Shell may provoke concern at a time when the public finances are set to come under strain.
Warning: North Sea faces ‘premature end’ as firms slash costs amid mayhem in oil market
The Government has committed huge sums to helping keep businesses afloat amid the crisis caused by the coronavirus.
The chair of Shell UK, Sinead Lynch, noted recently that the company only decommissioned Brent after the field had generated around £20bn tax receipts.
The payments to governments report shows Shell paid $22.7bn in total to governments around the world in 2019.
The company paid $3.1bn to the Norwegian authorities last year
It paid most in Nigeria, where payments totalled $5.6bn, including the government’s share of production revenues.
Shell paid $1.3bn to the US authorities.
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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.
