The main owner of the controversial Cambo oil field has highlighted in a company presentation that it is not due to pay tax for “for many years” on its projects in the North Sea due to the UK’s “attractive” tax regime.
UK-based Siccar Point Energy co-owns Cambo with Shell. The field is thought to contain up to 800 million barrels of oil.
The government is due to grant a final permit to begin drilling there, prompting a national campaign from environmentalists to stop the new extraction of fossil fuels, as recommended by both the UN and the International Energy Agency.
In the company presentation, which is dated February 2021 and is publicly available, Siccar Point says that because of the UK’s “simplified and attractive tax regime … Siccar Point … is not forecasted to pay taxes for many years”.
As Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to return to COP26 to urge nations to be more ambitious, and as countries like Costa Rica and Denmark launch the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, the Siccar Point presentation highlights how the UK is viewed as a favourable place for fossil fuel corporations to do business.
Energy Research company Rystad Energy recently named the UK as the country that offers oil and gas companies the “best profit conditions” in the world “to develop big offshore fields”.
A spokesman for Siccar Point Energy told Sky News: “Siccar Point Energy is a UK company, with assets entirely based in the UK.
“It is subject to full UK taxation, and taxes will be paid when they fall due. Cambo is a multi-billion pound investment that will reduce the UK’s reliance on energy imports during the managed transition to net zero and create thousands of UK jobs.
“The project will not generate revenues and profits for a number of years, but when it does these profits will…
Source : skynews
