An overview on royalties and similar taxes

For the purpose of establishing a comprehensive and comparative overview of the fiscal environment and the related market conditions in relation to the oil and gas industry, this analysis has taken into account the position of the European countries. Furthermore, most European countries have a specific tax regime for oil & gas industry which includes royalties or other specific taxes, as well as increased corporate income tax rates for operators activating in this sector.

The report should be considered within the limitation that every country has a different tax regime. The effective royalties and similar specific taxes may differ from nominal rates. These are driven by national priorities, market reality and the recent severe decline of oil and gas prices which affected the latest years.

We have performed an analysis regarding the effective tax rates in different European countries based on the information available as at 31 December 2015, except where explained otherwise. The computation of the effective tax rate for each country had in view the value of the royalties and specific taxes paid by the main players divided by the revenues obtained from the production and sale of oil & gas, for which public information was available.