Much of the panels' conclusions were based on the views of Pedro van Meurs, a consultant based in the tax haven of Nassau,
"The oil industry always gives strong negative reaction any time you propose a royalty or tax increase, because they get negative reaction from investors," he said.
"My business is to protect the owners of the resource and get the best possible deal for them, so consequently in the current environment with higher oil prices and higher profits, there are a large number of governments increasing the government take.
Do you see anywhere where Petro is saying "fair"?
I seem to be missing it too.
I do see that his business is to "get the best possible deal for them (owners)".
Put more colloquially, his business is to develop fiscal terms to screw the petroleum companies.
"Fair Share" indeed.
What does Pedro know about sharing? From what is in the public domain, it appears not much.
He also used to have a corporation in Canada, Van Meurs & Associates Limited (VMAL)
Canada. Get that? He left highly taxed Canada to go to a tax haven; only to return back to Canada and advise government on how to take more taxes. Smart guy I guess, if unethical. But then ethics isn't a point of distinction for the Royalty Review folks.
Pedro is actually damned smart. Why share those juicy consulting revenues with Canadian citizens? The Bahamas offers a fine weathered tax free existence, so why share? Better to tell other people how to "share" from a tax haven.
From the look of his website he's looking for business, if you want to screw a petroleum company here's where to find him:
Van Meurs Corporation
P.O. Box CR-56766 #1261
Nassau, Bahamas
phone: 242.324.4438
fax: 242.324.4439
e-mail: info@vanmeurs.org
Free advertising for you, Pedro. My way of sharing.
The irony of the van Meurs tax haven is thick indeed.
It actually reminds me of another little guy who is good at advising other people to share, yet who makes sure that he shares as little as he can possibly get away with.
Beware of those that TELL you to share. They probably aren't sharing.
2 comments:
Perhaps by "Fair", they mean "Market". That would be reasonably consistent with the concept of "best possible deal". Beyond market, the businesses will leave, below market, and money is left on the table.
Through competitive land sales, the government already gets the "market". And it's by the choice of the producers.
The Canaccord report explains things well:
http://wtfjournal.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post.html
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