North Sea oil taxation in Norway

Since 1963, the Norwegian government has developed a complex fiscal regime covering the activities of oil companies in the North Sea. The purpose of this article is to identify and quantify the financial effects of the fiscal system on operating companies involved in the Norwegian sector. The emphasis is on the effect of the tax package introduced by the government in the Odelsting Proposition No 26 of February 1975. The impact of the tax is not found to be well related to the profitability of fields and the sensitivity of the tax burden to key variables such as reserves, oil price, capital and operating costs and inflation is examined. The effect of quasi-fiscal measures, particularly of government participation via Statoil, is also examined.