23 April 2014, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, SPDC, says its open disclosure of payments to government would help entrench transparency on how revenues are disbursed.
“We work openly with governments on matters of taxes and royalties. We are a founder and board member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). This initiative requires both governments and companies to disclose revenues received from oil and mineral activities.
“In 2003, Shell was the first company to publish the royalties, taxes and other payments made to the government, with its permission and support. Shell started to voluntarily publish an annual revenue transparency report in 2012,” the company said in its recently released 2013 Sustainability Report.
The company stated that between 2009 and 2013, it generated $44 billion in revenue for the Federal Government, adding that together with sister company, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCo, it also paid $4 billion to the government in taxes and royalties in 2013.
Emphasizing that these disclosures would help in ensuring transparency on how such revenues are disbursed, it revealed that, to help improve accountability, Shell supports a global reporting rule for the industry, in line with EITI goals to achieve increased transparency.