EDF Discloses 2015 Edison Payments
EDF has released its 2015 report on payments to governments by its 99.4%-owned Italian subsidiary Edison, the bulk of which were paid in Egypt.
The report, released in the evening of June 6, was published in order to comply with Article 42 of Directive 2013/34/EU, which requires large firms across the EU to publish an annual report on payments to government -- with the aim of improving transparency. French law transposed this obligation to take effect from January 2015. It features a total of €161.72mn paid to governments by Edison.
For Egypt, Edison paid a total of €111.19mn, of which €104.58mn direct to the government, €3.88mn to state producer Egyptian General Petroleum Corp, and €2.73mn to state gas company Egas.
Of the €104.58mn, €102.35mn for the state’s share of production in the Abu Qir gas field in respect of the state’s 2.95mn barrels of oil equivalent entitlement to 2015 production there. Edison operates Abu Qir with a 60% interest, having farmed out a 40% interest to Germany-based DEA in 2006. A smaller €2.23mn was paid in respect of the Rosetta gasfield, operated by Shell-BG, where Edison's interest is 20%.
Edison's interests in Egypt and Algeria (map credit: Edison)
In Algeria, where Edison is a 11.25% participant in the Repsol-led development of the Reggane North gas field due onstream in 2018, the company’s only payment to the state was just €240,000 in taxes.
Payments to Norway and the UK were similarly low, at €1.75mn and €0.89mn respectively, consisting of fees and minor taxes, but were larger in Italy at €47.65mn – where main items were corporate taxes of €27.38mn and a €9.75mn royalty payment in respect of the Santa Anna concession. Edison has interests in all three countries and is particularly strong upstream in its home country.
Mark Smedley