8 – Income taxes

The tax rate in the first half of 2015 increased compared with the same period of the previous year. This was especially the result of higher deferred taxes in the Oil & Gas segment in connection with the currency-driven increase in temporary differences to the values used for the calculation of taxable income in Norway. Furthermore, the lower amount of tax-free income led to an increase in the tax rate. The first half of 2014 had included tax-free special income from the sale of shares in non-BASF-operated oil and gas fields in the British North Sea to the MOL Group.

The slightly higher tax rate in the second quarter of 2015 was particularly attributable to effects from the previous second quarter. In the second quarter of 2014, benefits from the dissolution of tax obligations reduced the foreign tax rate, a development that was partly countered by income taxes on offshore lifting in Libya.