SOCO International plc ('SOCO or the Company')
Report on Payments to Governments
SOCO International plc is an international oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in London and traded on the London Stock Exchange. The Company has field development and production interests in Vietnam and exploration and appraisal interests in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) and Angola.
Value creation for host countries
A key component of SOCO's business model is creating value for its host countries through responsibly managed operations and ethical business conduct.
Revenues to governments become payable by the Company due to oil production entitlements, taxes, royalties, licence fees and infrastructure improvements. During 2015, SOCO paid $240.4m to governments, primarily in Vietnam where SOCO's Te Giac Trang and Ca Ngu Vang fields produced over 14 million barrels of oil during the year (4.4 million net to SOCO), generating revenues for the Company of almost $215m. A total of $238.6m was paid to the Vietnam government including production entitlements, royalties, income tax and licence fees.
During the year, the Company made payments to governments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) of $1.1m for historic licence fees and in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) of $0.8m for licence fees and infrastructure improvements.
Ethical business conduct and transparency
SOCO is committed to transparency as an important aspect of ethical business conduct, and promotes this throughout the Company. SOCO mitigates business conduct risk by ensuring that it has robust and relevant procedures. Annual training and compliance certifications by all associated persons and provision of a whistleblowing facility reinforce SOCO's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which sets out its values of honesty, fairness and promoting trust amongst those with whom the Company works.
SOCO makes annual, audited disclosures of its payments to governments to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ('EITI') as an EITI Reporting Company in Congo (Brazzaville), where the Company has two offshore assets. SOCO participated in EITI's validation mechanism for Congo (Brazzaville) leading up to it becoming an EITI Compliant Country. SOCO was an EITI Reporting Company in Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) for the periods up until the relinquishment of its licence in the country in the second half of 2015.
Disclosure for the year ending 31 December 2015
In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.3A in respect of payments made by the Company to governments for the year ended 31 December 2015 and in compliance with The Reports on Payments to Governments Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/3209), SOCO presents its disclosure for the year ending 31 December 2015.
A copy of the report has been submitted to and will shortly be available for inspection from the National Storage Mechanism and is also available to view and download from the Company's website.
Links:
http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM
https://www.socointernational.com/payments-to-governments