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The Bristol Bay Times

OPINION: We told you so

Screen Shot 2013-01-11 at 20.09.51Anyone who has followed development like this for any length of time will not be shocked that Shell officials lied to cover their interests following the grounding of the Kulluk. But this blatantly obvious situation should motivate elected officials and the Coast Guard to require more oversight. We’ve been handed a gift with the Kulluk grounding, the gift of time and perspective. Hopefully, Alaska will make good use of it.

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May 31st 2:53 pm | Carey Restino

Last week, the operations manager for Royal Dutch Shell told Coast Guard investigators that the end-of-the year tax liability was a primary consideration in the decision to move the Royal Dutch Shell contracted rig the Kulluk from Unalaska before the end of the year.

That’s what Alaska Media reporter Jim Paulin reported back when the Kulluk went aground. He’d followed up on a tip that he’d heard long before things went awry in Shell’s world and the response he got back from a Shell spokesman was very clear – taxes were a factor, and a frustration to the company. No one said for sure how much liability Shell faced for the Kulluk but the term “millions” was floated around. Some news agencies came up with $6 million based on general assumptions about the value of the rig. Alaska taxes 2 percent of the value of property used in oil and gas exploration, and properties are assessed on Jan. 1. The state tax examiner later said that because the oil exploration conducted by Shell occurred outside state waters, the rig was not liable for taxes. read more

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.
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