Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) have paid the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Department of Petroleum Resources and others $6.397 billion as production entitlement and tax in 2018.
The oil giant said in their Sustainability Report, titled, ‘Industry Associations Climate Review; Nigeria Briefing Notes; and Payments to Government Report’, released in Lagos on Tuesday, that, the payment represents a 48 percent increase over payments by the companies to the Nigerian government in 2017, which was $4.322 billion.
The breakdown of the 2018 payments showed that Shell companies paid $3.776 billion to the NNPC as production entitlement, while $1.286 billion was paid in taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and that another $1.253 went to the Department of Petroleum Resources for royalties and fees, while $81.5 million was remitted to the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The Managing Director of SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, described the reports as a further testament to Shell’s efforts to increase transparency around activities that are important to investors, governments and civil society.
“We are irrevocably committed to transparency just as we are to business integrity part of our core values and central tenets of the Business Principles that govern the way we do business,” he said.
The Shell Nigeria Briefing Notes detail the activities of the Shell Companies in Nigeria for 2018. These include production, environmental performance, social investment, economic contributions, gas initiatives, deepwater operations, security and Nigerian content development.
GIK/APA