Royal Dutch Shell Plc  .com Rotating Header Image

Reuters: Venezuela trims Shell back tax bill to $13 mln

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Venezuela on Friday sharply reduced its demand for back taxes, fines and interest against the local affiliate of major oil company Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to $13 million, after the company appealed.
The government initially had demanded Shell de Venezuela pay $131 million in back taxes last year, but the company presented more evidence during the appeal process and authorities revised the amount owned.
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has demanded payments from other foreign oil companies after probing taxes paid by the energy sector during 2001 to 2004. The investigation focused on companies that held operating contracts with state oil firm PDVSA signed in the 1990s.
Earlier this month authorities said Venezuela had collected $125.6 million in back taxes out of the initial $651 million demanded from 19 of the 22 petroleum companies that held the oil field operating contracts until last year.
The broad probe into back taxes came after President Hugo Chavez last year ordered the companies with the 32 oil field operating contracts to sign agreements to create joint ventures giving PDVSA a controlling stake in the deals.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comment Rules

  • Please show respect to the opinions of others no matter how seemingly far-fetched.
  • Abusive, foul language, and/or divisive comments may be deleted without notice.
  • Each blog member is allowed limited comments, as displayed above the comment box.
  • Comments must be limited to the number of words displayed above the comment box.
  • Please limit one comment after any comment posted per post.