Shell: No plan to exit Nigeria, and real reason we paid $4.6bn royalty in 2019 but $900m in 2020
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude oil exporter, has suffered a crash of $3.7 billion on taxes and royalties it received from Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN) in just one year.
Platforms Africa reports that the figures of transactions and operations expressly published by the oil major in its Briefing notes, also showed a bearish business between 2019 and 2020.
In 2019, a whooping $4.6 billion was, according to the Briefing Notes, paid in royalty and taxes by Shell whereas this figure crumbled to $900 million in 2020.
Making an official presentation of the 2021 briefing notes to newsmen in Lagos, Country Head, Corporate Relations and Director, Shell Of petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Igo Weli, maintained that the company experienced reduction in its taxes and royalty payment into the Nigerian government’s coffers due, majorly, to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.
“COVID-19 was responsible for the change you noticed in our reports. We all know how the pandemic affected the oil industry as it was noticed in the crash in demand for crude oil and how the price also fell to a level never seen in modern history.
“In 2019, our taxes and royalty stood at $4.6 billion but as you could see this figure came down to $900 million in 2020. This has improved in the 2021 report and when the report is made available you will be able to see this improvement,” Weli told Platforms Africa.
He reiterated the Shell’s commitment, stating that rumour about it’s plan exit from Nigeria is not true.
“We’ve heard some people say we are going to leave Nigeria. No that is not true.
“There is no way we are going to leave Nigeria. We are, instead, looking at strenghtening our offshore operations,” he concluded while fielding questions from Platforms Africa.
Meanwhile, Shell added that it spent $800 million on contracts to Nigerian companies in 2020. This is also a reduction from spending on the same variable in the previous year.
The company said that it also paid $2.8 billion from 2000 to 2021, adding that another part of its socio-economic system is the over 2000 members of staff in its operations with majority of them as Nigerians.
