Russian court supported Total in tax dispute
The presidium of the Russian Higher Arbitration Court has supported the French company Total’s right to the reimbursement of 336 million RUB in the Kharyaga oil project.
The court left unchanged the verdicts of three other courts, newspaper Vedomosti reports. It was the Federal Tax Service in Arkhangelsk Oblast and Nenets AO which demanded that Total pay 336 million RUB in VAT.
Total is operator company in the Kharyaga oil field in the far northern Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The project is one of three Russian projects operated on the basis of a Production Sharing Agreement, a principle which grants the company the right not to pay VAT. Partners in the Kharyaga project are besides Total (40%), Statoil (30%), Zarubezhneft (20 %) and the Nenets Oil Company (10%).
The sum covers the period May-December 2005.
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Total is a key foreign investor in Russia. In addition to it engagement in the Kharyaga project, the company also holds a 25 percent state in the Shtokman Development Company. The company also seeks to engage in several other projects, among them in the Termokarstovoye gas condensate project in the Yamal- Nenets region
