Nigeria seeks $20 billion in back taxes from oil majors

Nigeria has asked the international oil majors operating in the country to pay a total of almost $20 billion in outstanding taxes and royalties that it says is owed to various Nigerian states. Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Eni, and Equinor have each been asked to pay the federal Nigerian government between $2.5 billion and $5 billion, according to Reuters’ sources who saw letters sent to the oil majors earlier this year via a government debt-collection division. Companies operating in Nigeria pay the government taxes and royalties and provide oil and gas to the state.