The 22nd Int. Petroleum Tax Conference 2011

The 22nd Int. Petroleum Tax Conference

The 2011 International Petroleum Tax conference program has been structured to explore in more detail the key topical taxation events that have shaped the Industry agenda during the last year. These range from the impact of the surprise UK tax increase in March of this year to the continuing ripples from the Macondo incident in the US GoM in 2010 and the familiar sweep through current tax issues in the NCS.  The 2010 conference attracted in excess of 100 delegates from Norway and abroad and the organising committee looks forward  to welcoming back to Oslo as many of last year’s delegates as possible plus encouraging  new faces for the first time.

The program outline will follow the pattern of recent conferences; Day 1 will focus on the wider energy landscape and fiscal context in Europe and beyond. Day 2 will cover in depth a range of topical fiscal issues that impact the NCS.

We are pleased to welcome State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Rune Henriksen who will open the conference with a discussion of current Norwegian petroleum policies. To follow ENI will be the ‘Boardroom speaker’; this is the first time that ENI has addressed the tax conference. ENI has a long history of a being a material investor and Operator in the NCS and their conference address  presents an excellent opportunity to hear ENI’s view on the health of the upstream sector in Norway. Eni is a major operator in the Barents sea with their Goliat project, they are uniquely placed to inform delegates of the potential and challenges of this emerging basin..

Gas is a significant theme of the 2011 conference and we are pleased to have secured a presentation by PGNiG on shale gas potential in Poland and the specific fiscal regime that applies to facilitate the exploitation of this rapidly emerging resource. Continuing the gas theme Beate Raabe the recently appointed Secretary General of Eurogas will present her views on the wider potential for gas in Europe with particular reference to the opportunities offered by emerging shale gas potential.

Over the past year there has been an ongoing debate on fiscal terms for the Oil and Gas Industry in the United States. Mike Halow of ExxonMobil will present an update on these discussions.

One of the key themes of the 2011 conference is to focus on the implications of the well-publicised and shock increase in taxation in the UK announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in March of this year. The debate will be commenced by Hugh Hedges from the HM Revenue and Customs  who will present the UK Government view, the rationale for the tax increase, its implications for activity and the nature of the continuing consultation with Industry. This will be followed by Dr Philip Wright (from the Oxford Institute of Energy studies) who in late in 2010 published a polemic criticising the conduct of UK energy policy and lenient nature of the UK fiscal regime. It will be interesting to hear whether he feels vindicated by the subsequent increase in upstream taxation.  Introducing a countervailing view Mike Tholen, Economics Director  of Oil and Gas UK, will conclude this discussion on the UK tax regime  by providing the Industry  perspective on the impact of the UK taxation changes; the expected impact on activity and the nature of the current fiscal  dialogue with the UK Government.

On day 2 we plan to focus on the Arctic, firstly with a presentation on legal jurisdiction in the Arctic by a representative from the MPE. This will be followed by a review from Statoil of the contrasting fiscal regimes that can be found across those countries with identified Arctic oil & gas potential. We will also, commencing by mid-morning, delve into the familiar review of topical fiscal issues impacting the Norwegian sector in more detail.
Our regular delegates will notice that for 2011 we are introducing revamped audio/visual facilities. Including new projection facilities, lighting and more screens which we hope will improve the experience.

The 22nd International Petroleum Tax Conference provides a unique opportunity to hear from acknowledged experts in the fiscal and energy field on current Industry trends and challenges. The outstanding conference facilities present a congenial setting to promote extensive networking with colleagues from Europe and beyond.

Welcome!