Chevron Gets Back-Tax Bill in Venezuela
Venezuelan authorities said Friday that No. 2 U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. owed $43.1 million in back taxes.
A government agency called the Seniat decided that Chevron owed the sum after an audit of its operations from 2001 to 2004.
The populist administration of President Hugo Chavez has targeted oil companies, hiking taxes and royalties.
Chevron rejected the allegations, saying it had paid all necessary taxes.
“Chevron is confident that we have accurately calculated and paid our taxes every year according to the laws of Venezuela,” Chevron spokesman Don Campbell said. “We fully cooperated with the Seniat in the development of their findings and will work with them to resolve any differences in our perspectives.”
The Seniat last year opened a wide-ranging tax probe of private oil companies that hit Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total, Spain’s Repsol and Italy’s ENI with hundreds of millions of dollars in back taxes.
U.S. oil companies have expressed concern over business conditions in Venezuela, with Exxon Mobil Corp.’s top executive, Rex W. Tillerson, describing the situation as “fluid.”
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