Giant field's tax dispute stalls

摘要

SHELL'S protracted $1 billion-plus Malampaya tax dispute has stalled at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in the US. The Philippines Commission on Audit (CoA) claimed in 2015 that the then Malampaya partners - Shell, Chevron and state-run Philippine National Oil Company Exploration Corporation - owed 53 billion pesos (US$1,083 billion today) in income taxes from 2002 to 2009. The commission in 2018 ordered the partners to pay 146.8 billion pesos. The dispute rests on a simple premise - whether the government's 60% take specified in Service Contract 38 includes companies' corporate income tax. The Malampaya co-venturers, supported by the Philippines Department of Energy, have long argued this tax does form part of the government take. However, the CoA disagrees - resulting in the move to international arbitration.