I think Noble and Weatherford did the same thing as RIG too. It's perfectly legal so long as countries like Swiss allow companies to act as a tax haven. I don't have anything against RIG for being tax efficient, they are making the decisions that are best for the shareholders. However, they have wasted all of their political support within the US as a result.
As for the GOM, we'll see what happens. Gas production doesn't really matter since we have a glut of shale gas that will last another couple hundred years. I wouldn't necessarily think that the people that are desperate to leave the GOM are actually serios. I think the drilling contractors will make a lot of noise, but what else are they going to do?
Business is all about profit. However, when companies like RIG go out of their way not to pay their share of taxes to the US, it really makes their ambitions very transparent - greed. They are privatising public resources, making huge profits, and repatriating the profits and tax returns to 3rd party countries. And, they want to limit their liability to the US oil spill to $27 million. Meanwhile, they pay nothing for all of the military protection they enjoy around the world.
This is a conundrum not just for RIG. Look at what Australia did to their miners. They put a 40% superprofit on Rio Tinto and other mining giants. If RIG and DO are at such a competitive disadvantage, why do they keep trying to support ridiculous dividend strategies to make themselves look like stable companies.
Eventually, everything will come full circle. China won't be able to compete by paying their employees $3 a day when they see the wealth around them. Europe will crack down on it's tax enclaves and stop enabling companies from tax evasion. Real estate in the US is becoming cheap relative to the pricing gluts in Europe and Asia. Lot's of good things are happening, even if a few supercapitalists don't like the regulations to avoid rampant fraud and tax evasion. |
