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A Danish supreme court has ruled against Maersk and TotalEnergies in a legal dispute involving taxable income from Middle East and North Africa (MENA) oil and gas assets that have been sold to the French multinational firm.
The assets in Algeria and Qatar, previously owned by the Danish shipping and logistics company but sold to TotalEnergies in 2017, allegedly owed taxes in Denmark for the period 2006 and 2008.
The tax authorities had claimed Maersk’s oil business over the years extended services to two of its business units without charge, which for tax purposes should have been settled at a market price, according to a Bloomberg report. It meant the company allegedly did not follow rules on transfer pricing.
No financial consequences
The court has ordered the payment of tax dues on about 1.3 billion kroner ($190 million) in earnings, as well as 4 million kroner in legal fees and 3 million kroner in interest.
Maersk said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the ruling has “no financial consequences”. Its stock was up by 1.73% on Wednesday.
However, as of 12:51 PM EDT, TotalEnergies’ stock price was down by 0.34% compared to the previous close.
The French company took over the Maersk facilities in a $7.5 billion deal in 2017.
Last year, the French energy giant announced it would invest around $2 billion in the North Field East LNG expansion project, located northeast Qatar.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
