Shell paid $3.24bn to Nigeria in 2020 — lowest in six years

Royal Dutch Shell says it paid $3.24 billion to the federal government and its agencies in 2020.

This is contained in Shell’s ‘Report on Payments to Governments for the Year 2020’, released on Wednesday.

According to the report, the payment to Nigeria is the highest from a total of $13.11 billion paid to 24 countries in 2020 where Shell has upstream operations.

However, the payment made by Shell to the federal government is the lowest in six years.

In 2019, the oil giant paid $5.63 billion to Nigeria; $6.39 billion in 2018, $4.32 billion in 2017, $3.64 billion in 2016, and $4.95 billion in 2015.

“Payments made by Shell to governments arising from activities involving the exploration, prospection, discovery, development and extraction of minerals, oil and natural gas deposits or other materials (extractive activities),” the report read.

According to the report, Shell paid $2.27 billion to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as production entitlement; $440.39 million was paid in taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

It further showed that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was paid $451.50 million for royalties and fees, while $73.41 million was paid to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Overall, Shell paid $47.3 billion to governments in 2020, these include: $3.4 billion in corporate income taxes and $3.5 billion in government royalties.

The oil giant also collected $40.4 billion in excise duties, sales taxes and similar levies on its fuel and other products on behalf of governments.