Royal Dutch Shell paid about $59.1 billion to 29 governments across the world in 2017, $4.32bn [₦1.557tn] of which was to the Federal Government of Nigeria. This information is according to the company’s Report on Payments to Governments for the Year 2017 which was released yesterday on their website.
This development indicates a 19% increase from the $3.63bn paid by the company in the preceding year.
Breakdown of the payment
According to the report, Shell paid the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) the sum of $3.197bn for production entitlements. This is obviously more than the $2.172bn the company paid for the same purpose in 2016.
Similarly, the global oil giant paid the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) a total of $765.526m in taxes for the year ended December 31st; a decline from the $1.18bn paid in 2016.
The sums of $239,189 and $160.71m were also paid to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) as fees and royalties, showing increases to the $34.24m and $245.769m that were paid to the DPR in 2016.
In 2017, Shell paid more than $59.1 billion to governments. We paid $6.3 billion in income taxes and $3.7 billion in government royalties, and collected $49.1 billion in excise duties, sales taxes and similar levies on our fuel and other products on behalf of governments.
Shell’s payment to governments report is published in accordance with regulations established by the United Kingdom in 2014. This is the third edition of the annual report ever so published. For the past three years, the report shows that Nigeria has received billions of dollars in payment from the global oil company, especially so in 2017 when the country received the highest amount paid to any of the 29 countries where Shell currently operates.
The Royal Dutch established their presence in Nigeria with the incorporation of their subsidiary in 1936 named Shell D’Arcy. After many years of successful crude oil exploration and corporate identity changes, the company was finally renamed Shell-BP Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited in 1956.
