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Shell Tax Avoidance

Poor Management and Tax Dodging Led to Kulluk Grounding

Screen Shot 2013-11-01 at 09.31.18Article by RACHEL D’ORO Associated Press published 4 April 2014 by ABC NEWS under the headline: “Report: Poor Management Led to Shell Grounding”

A Coast Guard report says poor risk assessment and management were factors that led to the grounding of a Shell oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Alaska in 2012.

The report released Thursday also says Alaska’s tax laws influenced the decision to tow the Kulluk to Seattle. Royal Dutch Shell PLC believed the drill vessel would have qualified as taxable property on Jan. 1, 2013, if it was still in Alaska waters.

The Kulluk broke away from its tow vessel in late December 2012 and ran aground four days later on Sitkalidak Island, near Kodiak. read more

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Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Jorma Ollila failed to disclose ownership of Luxembourg company worth €8.2 million

Screen Shot 2014-03-27 at 12.56.28“It will be interesting to see what happens next. If Ollila (right) did not disclose his Luxembourg interests to the authorities, this was presumably because he did not declare them for tax purposes either. So when others within the companies that he leads commit breaches of inconvenient laws, they can presumably use the justification that they are only following the example of their chairman. Since Ollila does not have any oil industry specific skills to offer, the only reason for his role as chairman is to provide leadership and to set an example as a role model. As such, his conviction for breaking securities laws should be seen as gross or wilful negligence.  I presume that he will be resigning before the AGM.” It is almost exactly 10 years since another dishonest Royal Dutch Shell Chairman, Sir Phil Watts, resigned in disgrace.

By John Donovan

Jorma Ollila, the Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Plc has been fined by market regulators for failing to disclose his ownership and control of a company in Luxembourg worth 8.2 million euros. He has admitted breaking the law. He prefers to call it “neglecting the law.”

It is therefore interesting to reflect on his past comments about transparency and trust.

The following extracts are all taken from a speech he made as Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Plc on 1 November 2012.

Extract read more

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Shell’s disastrous tax dodge

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Photo Courtesy Mark Meyer / Greenpeace

Extracts from an article by Jim Paulin, Dutch Harbor Fisherman, published 23 March 2014 by AlaskaDispatch under the headline: Southwest Alaska municipalities want bigger share of oil royalties 

Impacts are already being felt from the arrival of Royal Dutch Shell in Alaska. The arctic-class oil rig Kulluk grounded in the Kodiak archipelago New Year’s Eve, as the rig left on a schedule designed to avoid a potential tax bill of $6 million in Unalaska, raising serious concerns of damage to the environment. None of those fears were realized in that incident, though it clearly showed the potential for harm. The cost to Shell in responding to the near-disaster makes $6 million seem small by comparison. In addition, Alaska’s government says the rig is exempt from local taxes because it wasn’t drilling in state waters, which extend up to three miles from shore. Shell has suspended exploration this year, to give it time to fix its drill rigs. read more

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Vodafone, Shell asked to file replies in tax case by 10 October

Both firms have challenged tax demands through writ petitions in high court in an alleged transfer pricing case: Shell India is fighting a tax order accusing it of underpricing an intra-group share transfer by Rs.15,000 crore and consequently evading taxes.

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=&0=& The Bombay high court on Monday asked the Indian units of Vodafone Group Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc to file rejoinders by 10 October to the replies filed by the income tax department in an alleged transfer pricing case.

Shell India is fighting a tax order accusing it of underpricing an intra-group share transfer by Rs.15,000 crore and consequently evading taxes.

FULL ARTICLE

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In the new Shell to lie is acceptable unless your found out

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Screen Shot 2013-05-21 at 23.30.59The crisis in my book, and we are far from the endpoint in this, is that RDS officials lied in that the decision to move Kulluk was not related to tax avoidance when it was.  Perhaps that is why the RDS CEO has taken a closer interest in his family and the sustainability of his future.

ARTICLE BY BILL CAMPBELL, RETIRED HSE GROUP AUDITOR, SHELL INTERNATIONAL

In the new Shell, that which developed in the days of post transformation, group dancing in that nice hotel near the Het Loo Palace, with the dear leader Watts arriving from space etc around the same time, who can forget those heady days.  Is that when to lie and deceive became the norm in the head sheds of The Hague. Is that when the growth of VP’s started, not the Joe Biden variety, the Shell model, we currently appear to have more VP’s than indian meals sold in Bradford on a Friday night. read more

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Listening sessions start process for Alaska-focused Arctic drilling rules

Screen Shot 2013-01-11 at 20.09.51Looking for lessons in Shell’s disastrous campaign to drill offshore in the Arctic, the Interior Department on Thursday launched an effort to create special rules for oil and gas activity in federal waters off Alaska’s coasts.

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Alex DeMarban: June 6, 2013

Looking for lessons in Shell’s disastrous campaign to drill offshore in the Arctic, the Interior Department on Thursday launched an effort to create special rules for oil and gas activity in federal waters off Alaska’s coasts.

Leading the hearing was a former Alaskan who’s risen into the top echelons of the department. Tommy Beaudreau, an assistant secretary at Interior who oversees energy development in the U.S. offshore, said his years in Alaska have left him mindful of the promise of resource development and the dangers it presents. read more

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Shell Covered Up The Fact That They Moved Kulluk For Taxes

 Screen Shot 2013-06-01 at 15.31.58…the two Arctic drilling barges deployed by Shell were plagued with issues. The first was under criminal investigation for failing safety requirements, while the second was the Kulluk

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Rachel Maddow: Shell Covered Up The Fact That They Moved Kulluk For Taxes

Posted:   |  Updated: 05/31/2013 12:45 pm EDT

Rachel Maddow concluded earlier this week that “oil companies lie.”

Although this is not the first time the MSNBC host has criticized an oil giant, recent revelations about Shell’s Arctic drilling led Maddow to reiterate her stance.

In an investigation conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard, a Shell official admitted that the Kulluk, a drilling barge that ran aground on December 31, 2012, was being moved in an effort to avoid a possible $6 million tax. read more

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Shell Admits Kulluk Rig was Moved to Avoid Taxes

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By Charles Kennedy | Mon, 27 May 2013 21:47

Screen Shot 2012-12-07 at 01.26.25On 7th December 2012 Shell decided to move the Kulluk floating drill platform from its berth in Dutch Harbour, south to a Seattle shipyard where it would receive major repairs and general maintenance during the off-season. Shell claimed that they had assessed the possibility of making the repairs in Alaska, but it was deemed that a larger shipyard was needed.

The Kulluk, under tow from the Aiviq, departed Dutch Harbour on 21st December. On 27th December the main towing gear failed, just as an Arctic storm approached and the seas began to pick up. Repeated attempts to connect the Kulluk to a number of different vessels that had come to help, all failed, and the rig finally drifted off and ran aground on New Year’s Eve. read more

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Shell Admits Real Reason Coast Guard Had To Rescue Its Arctic Drilling Rig: Failed Tax Avoidance Scheme

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Screen Shot 2012-12-07 at 01.26.25By Ryan Koronowski on May 28, 2013 at 6:17 pm

The main reason an offshore oil rig ran aground off the coast of Alaska late last year was because oil company Royal Dutch Shell was trying to depart state waters to avoid paying millions in taxes.

Sean Churchfield, operations manager for Royal Dutch Shell in Alaska, testified to the Coast Guard over the weekend that the Kulluk, an Arctic offshore drilling rig, left Dutch Harbor in December “driven by the economic factors.” When the Coast Guard’s legal advisor Lt. Cmdr. Brian McNamara asked why leaving by the end of the year was such a concern, Churchfield said: read more

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Shell challenges $1 billion tax demand in Bombay HC

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Mumbai: Global oil major Royal Dutch Shell Thursday said it has moved the Bombay High Court here, challenging the USD 1 billion demand made by the tax authorities on a four-year-old equity infusion.

“Shell confirms that it has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court challenging the draft tax order,” the Anglo- Dutch oil major said in a statement. The company “will continue to evaluate all options for redress available to resolve this tax dispute”, it said. read more

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Shell and ABN Amro ‘masters in tax avoidance’

INTRO BY JOHN DONOVAN: THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT TAX DODGING, AN ACTIVITY IN WHICH SHELL HOLDS A BLACK BELT AND HAS DONE SO FOR MANY DECADES. NOTE THAT GERRIT ZALM IS ON THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS. HE IS ALSO THE CHAIRMAN OF ANOTHER ALLEGED TAX DODGER, ABN AMBRO BANK N.V. HE IS UP FOR RE-APPOINTMENT TO THE RDS PLC BOARD NEXT MONTH. OBVIOUSLY A PERFECT FIT.

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Shell and state bank ABN Amro are ‘masters in tax avoidance’: Volkskrant

Monday 01 April 2013

While the Netherlands has its own image as a tax haven, Dutch multinationals are masters at setting up their own companies in tax-free zones, the Volkskrant reported at the weekend.

The 26 biggest Dutch companies have at least 237 companies in tax-free places such as the Channel Islands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, where they do no, or little, business, the Volkskrant says.

Shell has 85 subsidiaries in six tax-free zones, while ABN Amro has 54 in five. Privately-held oil trading group Vitol has 17. Most companies, including Vitol, are reluctant to give out much information about their activities in tax havens, the VK said. read more

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Evidence Shell Tax Dodging was Behind Kulluk debacle

By John Donovan

The Alaska Dispatch has quoted from an email that Shell Alaska spokesperson Curtis Smith (right) sent on 27 December 2012.

Curtis said in his email:

“it’s fair to say the current tax structure related to vessels of this type influenced the timing of our departure.”

He also said it could cost “multiple millions” if the Kulluk was still in Alaska waters Jan. 1.

I think we can safely assume that Mr Curtis will have earned a big black mark against his name at Shell PR for telling the truth. That is not a quality that Shell management is looking for in a spokesperson. read more

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Royal Dutch Shell tax dodging key factor in Kulluk debacle

Screen Shot 2012-12-07 at 01.26.25By John Donovan

Royal Dutch Shell has a history of tax avoidance stretching back many decades. A Shell spokesman has confirmed that the Kulluk was being towed from Alaskan waters for tax reasons. The timing was designed to take advantage of a tax loophole, which allowed the oil giant to avoid $6 million in Alaska state taxes. Should be no surprise since the company is infamous for putting profit before offshore safety. And the company is now run by a pair of ruthless bean counter fat cats, Voser and Henry. read more

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Starbucks a novice at tax dodging compared with Shell

Shell’s penchant for tax dodging goes back almost 100 years. In comparison, Starbucks is a mere novice.

QUOTE FROM “A HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL, VOLUME 2

“This elaborate charade would have delighted Deterding who, in an earlier phase of the Group’s history, had excelled in devising convoluted schemes to avoid tax…”

By John Donovan

Starbucks’ £20m gift ‘makes joke’ of tax system

Starbucks has taken the “unprecedented” step of pledging to pay £20m corporation tax, even if it makes no profit – only for the move to appear to backfire and fuel the fiasco surrounding its UK operation. (SOURCE)

Starbucks the coffee conglomerate has negotiated a deal with HMRC to repay £millions siphoned off under the guise of “brand royalties” to an external tax haven. This was in response to a growing backlash from the UK public and calls for a boycott.

The tax dodging scheme which exploited a legal loophole, is similar to the machinations of Royal Dutch Shell who several years ago shifted ownership of Shell trademarks to a Swiss tax haven with the same objective. 

See: Royal Dutch Shell Plc Tax Dodgers: Offshore – and out of reach to the Revenue read more

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ROYAL DUTCH SHELL HISTORY OF TAX AVOIDANCE

By John Donovan

The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has a long history as a participant in what the Guardian has aptly described as “the murky world of corporate tax avoidance.”

In February 2009, the Guardian newspaper published an article under the headline: “Offshore – and out of reach to the Revenue

Extracts

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, although it is still a British plc operating under UK company law, has shifted its trademarks to Switzerland and its main tax residence to the Netherlands.

Shell, meanwhile, has shifted ownership rights of its iconic scallop-shell roadside sign out of London to a third low-tax regime in Switzerland. It was part of a carefully planned merger of its UK and Dutch arms, which enabled the oil giant to keep many operations from the grip of the British tax authorities. For tax purposes, Royal Dutch Shell plc is now resident in the Netherlands. The company told us that the brand shift to the tax haven canton of Zug was not for tax avoidance, but for “entirely commercial” reasons. “There has been no impact on the Shell brand in the UK,” the company said. It added that there would now be “more effective and consistent management of the Shell trademarks”. read more

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Royal Dutch Shell tax avoidance

With new information that came in, the Guardian was able to spotlight hitherto unknown avoidance schemes by the big banks, particularly those in the process of being helped by state funds. The series revealed the tax stratagems of many of Britain's corporate household names. It documented brands shifted offshore by Diageo, Shell, and drug companies AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.

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Royal Dutch Shell Plc Tax Dodgers: Offshore – and out of reach to the Revenue

This means that, legally speaking, Shell is now simultaneously a British public company, tax-resident in Amsterdam, whose brands are Swiss.

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