The Fifth Circuit of the US court on August 3rd denied ExxonMobil’s bid for a US$1 billion tax refund for its oil-and-gas agreements with Qatar and Malaysia.
According to Law360, the court found that the agreements count as leases and not sales since both countries maintained an interest in the extracted fuels.
Exxon cannot claim the refund for 2006 through 2009 because the deals it entered into with Qatar and Malaysia are better defined as leases rather than sales, the appeals court said in a published opinion, according to Law360. According to the opinion, both countries maintain some form of economic interest in the extracted minerals through various payment schemes, including ones that depend on the amount of gas delivered to Exxon’s facilities in Qatar and the quantity of gas extracted from Malaysia.
