Jerome
You quote

The Treasury is expecting to make around £10bn this year from oil revenues, though experts at Grant Thornton think this could rise as high as £16bn due to higher oil prices.

I quote from a UK Parliamentary answer: "Liability to pay fuel duty only applies to fuel refiners or producers. This is because the point at which the duty is paid is when the finished product leaves the refinery or production plant. Fuel duty is set at a fixed monetary value per litre rather than as a percentage of the retail price"
Where is the extra tax coming from? Is this VAT at the point of consumption? Is the Grant Thornton estimate likely to be accurate?
Phil

I'm pretty sure they're talking about taxation on production there.

I think so, upstream taxation: The UK Continental Shelf Tax Regime

  • Ring Fence Corporation Tax
    With some important modifications (e.g. relating to capital allowances and losses), this is the standard corporation tax applicable to all companies, with the addition of a "ring fence" and 100% first year allowances for almost all capital expenditure. The ring fence prevents taxable profits from oil and gas extraction in the UK and UKCS being reduced by losses from other activities or by excessive interest payments by treating ring fenced activities as a separate trade. The current rate of corporation tax is 30%.
  • Supplementary Charge
    This is an additional charge of 20% (10% prior to 1 January 2006) on a company's ring fence profits excluding finance costs. The supplementary charge was introduced from 17 April 2002.
  • Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT)
    This is a special tax on oil and gas production from the UK and UKCS. It is a field based tax charged on profits arising from individual oil fields. The current rate of PRT is 50%. PRT was abolished for all fields given development consent on or after on 16 March 1993. PRT is deductible as an expense against corporation tax and the supplementary charge.