Tullow payments to govt drop by Shs10b

Oil workers at Kigogole-5 Oil Well in Buliisa District, Western Uganda. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

Reason. The amount paid to government has been reducing since 2012 as
oil activity slows down.

KAMPALA. Tullow, for the second year in a row, has disclosed what it paid to government in taxes and licence fees. In its 2014 unaudited transparency disclosure, Tullow indicated it spent $16.13m (Shs43.7b) on loyalties, stamp duty, Value Added Tax (VAT), Pay As You Earn and National Social Security Fund contributions in Uganda. This is a 17.5
per cent drop from the Shs59b ($23m) spent on the same in 2013.
“There has been a considerable reduction in the level of project activity, especially in field operations, following the conclusion of the exploration and appraisal phase. This explains the reduced level of tax payments,” Mr Conrad Nkutu, the head corporate affairs, at
Tullow Uganda told Daily Monitor in an e-mail. The amount paid to government has been reducing since 2012 as oil activity slows down. For instance, in 2014 the disclosure indicates

Tullow didn’t pay income tax, whereas in the previous year, income tax was $4m (Shs11.7b). VAT also dropped from $4.8m (Shs14b) to $1.4m (Shs1.4b).

Tullow is the only oil company in Uganda that discloses payments made to government as part of accounting rules of companies based in European Union to reveal payments on a country-by-country basis. The EU had set January 1, 2015 for companies to report, however, Tullow started before the deadline.

“2014 is the third year we have reported payments to governments in our countries of operation and the second year we have reported in line with the European Union (EU) accounting directive, which includes reporting at a project level,” reads the 2014 Tullow Oil annual report.

Mr George Boden, a campaigner with Global Witness, told Daily Monitor that other companies listed and registered in the EU and US will all be required to disclose such payments. “All companies registered or listed in the EU or the US will soon be required to do the same. This includes CNOOC and Total,” he says.
Uganda is yet to sign onto the Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), which requires government to publish money received from oil companies annually.

Amount paid

Money Tullow oil paid govt
Year Amount
2012 $174.7m
2013 $23m
2014 $16m