Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : YEEHAW CANDIDATES -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ditchdigger who wrote (607)	11/27/2002 1:53:24 PM
From: Ditchdigger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23958

This might help SOSA .............happy Holiday, later,DD Reuters UPDATE - North Sea oil shares up as UK scraps royalty tax Wednesday November 27, 12:54 pm ET (Adds background, oil industry reaction, closing share prices) LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Shares in Europe's biggest company, BP Plc (London:BP.L - News), and other British energy stocks climbed on Wednesday after the government fulfilled a promise to scrap a long-standing tax on North Sea oil production. ADVERTISEMENT BP shares built on early gains to close 4.3 percent higher at 417 pence. Shares in Centrica Plc (London:CNA.L - News), which has a large gas field that pays royalties in Morecambe Bay off the northwest England coast, were up 1.5 percent at 165 pence. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announced earlier on Wednesday that the government would abolish a 12.5 percent royalty levy on gross revenues from older oilfields commissioned before 1982, with effect from January. The concession had been promised to oil companies last April when Brown slapped a new 10 percent tax on profits on all oil and gas production. Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey said the timing of the abolition was "bang in line with our expectations," though there had been fears that it might not happen until next July. The concession is worth about 200 million pounds ($309 million) a year. Producers set to benefit include BP, Royal Dutch/Shell (London:SHEL.L - News; Amsterdam:RD.AS - News), ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM - News), Centrica and Canadian group Talisman (Toronto:TLM.TO - News). The UK Offshore Operators' Association expressed relief at the decision to scrap the royalty tax, but said the new tax regime announced in April would still increase the tax burden on the oil industry by some eight billion pounds by the end of the decade. "The removal of royalty does not...heal the damage done to the industry by the recent changes to the tax regime overall," the industry body said in a statement. When announced in April, the new tax regime prompted outcry in the oil industry which said it would deter investment vital to prolonging the life of the mature North Sea oil province. Around 30 pre-1982 fields off Britain's coasts have been paying 12.5 percent royalty on revenues in addition to 30 percent corporation tax and the new 10 percent tax. They include the Brent, Forties, Buchan, Claymore, Frigg, Heather and Viking fields. .