RE:the future for bankers hinges on the results of the auditDB, with all due respect, you have it wrong. No body suggests that they "pay a minimum of $57 million". I don't know how you jump to that conclusion.
" Fluctuations in royalty on a per barrell basis are mainly due to changes in underlying oil prices" from the annual report. They don't get a fixed dollar amount they get a fixed PERCENTAGE. This is 11%. It's NOT a dollar amount as you suggest. The $57 million will be reconciled against the royalty taxes upon completion of the audit.
To be clear, the Albanian tax department is arguing that BNK inflated the CAPEX ie. they spent $12.208 million on "Work-over production" they say "hey, you didn't HAVE to spend that amount, you could have used a local guy that would have charged you $10 million" .!!! There's nothing in the Petroleum Agreement that suggests that every expence has to be put out to the lowest bidding contractor. NOTHING!!!! This is the crux of the ALBS arguement. Think about it. It's a stupid arguement for sure, but EVEN IF they managed to argue that they DID spend too much or included some expence that didn't qualify as a recoverable expence, its hard to imagine that they would deny the whole CAPEX!!!! of $242.8 million!!! They could potentially reduce the COST POOL but how can they deny the whole thing???? It just cant!!! THERE IS NO PROFIT TAX APPLICABLE!!!
Now, I haven't gone through every receipt because BNK doesn't make that available. Logic suggests that BNK is mindful over cost and expertise because it just makes sense in running every business that you hire a srvice that will do the job best, not the cheapest. Yes, it's possible that BNK didn't spend that amount and somehow magically the oil just jumped out of the wells and the rig operators didn't charge BNK $110.280 million and they really did it for $50 million. I highly doubt that to be the case!!!! They drilled 76 vertical wells and 2 horizontal wells in that year!!!!
Further to your suggestion that "Albanians have an end game of operating and developing the field themselves attracting an international operator" . That is just goofy. The ALBS tried this twic over the decades once with the Russians and once with the Chinese and they tried on their own. Have any of you looked at what the oil field looked like 10 years ago and compared it to now? Probabaly not. It was an environmental disaster. Oil was on the ground everywhere, drill rigs all rusted to rat sheit in the thousands, abandoned buildings everywhere and now it's clean and green. Any Albanians on this blog can vouch for what I say.
This is also a very inflammatory suggestion. The ALBS haven't ever suggested that they want to operate the feild, moreover they acknowledge that BNK has the mineral rights and they have a signed contract. It just so happens that they have a beef with the expences. How can they be so very high they ask themselves? Ignorance I guess. Like I've said before the Rama's government is new and this is their first kick at the can. Oil revenue is down over 50%. What do you expect?