Campaigners call for windfall tax on North Sea oil firms

Monday October 23, 2006 15:20

by Shell to Sea

Shell announce huge quarterly profits while damaging environment

Below is the first part of interesting article on a move to try and get some money from Shell and other energy companies to pay some of the cost of the environmental damage they cause (followw the link for the rest).

While the article makes the point that Shell don't pay nearly enough to make up for the damage they are causing in Britain, here in Ireland we should remeber that there is no tax being paid on their huge profits, since all the costs incurred by SEPIL-everything up to and including the legal costs of prosecuting the Rossport Five- are being wriiten off.

Last year the British Finance Minister, Gordon Brown, imposed a windfall tax on the energy companies.

Will Brian Cowan impose a windfall tax on Shell to pay for the extra hospital beds we need? To at least offset the cost of the huge Garda occupation force in Mayo? To invest in sustainable energy sources?

Maybe he's waiting for someone to suggest it- his phone number is: 01-604 5626

On Thursday Shell will unveil a quarterly profit of $5.7billion

Belfast Telegraph Home > News > Business
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.j...11226

Campaigners call for windfall tax on North Sea oil firms

By Philip Thornton
23 October 2006

BP and Shell caused almost $50bn (£27bn) of environmental and social damage last year - double the amount of profits they made in the past 12 months - according to green campaigners, who urged the Government to slap a windfall tax on the oil and gas industry.

Campaigners want Gordon Brown to use the money raised from taxing the soaring profits of North Sea oil companies to fund a long-term programme to tackle the impacts of global warming they are accused of causing.

The WWF, the conservation charity, said the Treasury had reaped a double windfall from the North Sea: years of robust economic growth and billions of pounds for the coffers of the Exchequer. It said none of the money had been used to insure against either the eventual depletion of supplies of oil and gas or mitigate the long-term damage to the ozone layer.

In a joint report with the new economics foundation (NEF), a left-of-centre think tank, it said the UK's stance contrasted with countries such as Norway that had amassed a $210bn (£111bn) fund by taxing oil profits.

"Britain has squandered its windfall of natural resources from North Sea oil and gas," Andrew Simms, the policy director at NEF and the lead author of the report, said.

James Leaton, the WWF's oil policy officer, said: "The UK needs to admit to its addiction to oil, and make a tough decision to get clean."

The WWF and NEF calculated the damage wrought by oil companies' products on the environment. They are publishing their report in a week that will see BP and Shell post their latest results. Tomorrow BP will say it made $4.74bn (£2.52bn) in the third quarter of the year, analysts believe. On Thursday Shell will unveil a larger $5.7bn (£3bn) - equivalent to £12bn a year.

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Campaigners call for windfall tax on North Sea oil firms