Norway tax talks put breakevens in frame

摘要

THE Norwegian government looked set this week to raise tax uplift for the struggling oil and gas industry to lower breakeven costs for new field projects amid strong pressure from opposition parties. Parliamentary talks on a contentious fiscal relief proposal were coming to a close mid-week as Upstream went to press. The Conservative-led administration's current proposal would allow immediate deductions of project investment costs against tax, as opposed to over six years at present, solely for the special tax of 56% but not for the company tax of 22%, while tax uplift would be reduced from the current 20.8% to 10%.