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Income taxes (Tables)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Income tax [abstract]  
Significant components of income tax expense [Table Text Block]
Significant components of income tax expense
Full year
(in USD million)202020192018
Current income tax expense in respect of current year(1,115)(7,892)(10,724)
Prior period adjustments31369(49)
Current income tax expense(802)(7,822)(10,773)
Origination and reversal of temporary differences(648)410(1,359)
Recognition of previously unrecognised deferred tax assets1300923
Change in tax regulations(12)(6)(28)
Prior period adjustments94(23)(99)
Deferred tax income/(expense)(435)381(563)
Income tax(1,237)(7,441)(11,335)
Reconciliation of statutory tax rate to effective tax rate [Table Text Block]
Reconciliation of statutory tax rate to effective tax rate
Full year
(in USD million)202020192018
Income/(loss) before tax(4,259)9,29218,874
Calculated income tax at statutory rate1)1,445(2,284)(5,197)
Calculated Norwegian Petroleum tax2)(2,126)(5,499)(8,189)
Tax effect uplift3)1,006632736
Tax effect of permanent differences regarding divestments(9)380400
Tax effect of permanent differences caused by functional currency different from tax currency(198)8116
Tax effect of other permanent differences450395337
Recognition of previously unrecognised deferred tax assets4)1300923
Change in unrecognised deferred tax assets(1,685)(974)72
Change in tax regulations(12)(6)(28)
Prior period adjustments40847(148)
Other items including foreign currency effects(647)(139)(357)
Income tax(1,237)(7,441)(11,335)
Effective tax rate(29.0 %)80.1 %60.1 %

1)The weighted average of statutory tax rates was 33.9% in 2020, 24.6% in 2019 and 27.5% in 2018. The rates are influenced by earnings composition between tax regimes with lower statutory tax rates and tax regimes with higher statutory tax rates. The change in weighted average statutory tax rate from 2018 to 2019 is also caused by the reduction in the Norwegian statutory tax rate from 23% in 2018 to 22% in 2019.

2)The Norwegian petroleum tax rate is 56% for 2020 and 2019, and 55% for 2018.

3)When computing the petroleum tax of 56% on income from the Norwegian continental shelf, an additional tax-free allowance, or uplift, is granted on the basis of the original capitalised cost of offshore production installations. Normally, a 5.2% uplift may be deducted from taxable income for a period of four years starting in the year in which the capital expenditure is incurred. For 2020 temporary rules allow direct deduction of the whole uplift at a rate of 24% in the year the capital expenditure is incurred. For investments made in 2019 the uplift is calculated at a rate of 5.2% per year, while the rate is 5.3% per year for investments made in 2018 and 5.4% per year for investments made in 2017. Transitional rules apply to investments from 5 May 2013 covered by among others Plans for development and operation (PDOs) or Plans for installation and operation (PIOs) submitted to the Ministry of Oil and Energy prior to 5 May 2013. For these investments the rate is 7.5% per year. Unused uplift may be carried forward indefinitely. At year-end 2020 and 2019, unrecognised uplift credits amounted to USD 836 million and USD 1,678 million, respectively.

4)An amount of USD 923 million of previously unrecognised deferred tax assets was recognised in the E&P International reporting segment in 2018. The recognition of the deferred tax assets is based on the expectation that sufficient taxable income will be available through reversals of taxable temporary differences or future taxable income supported by business forecast.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities [text block]
Deferred tax assets and liabilities comprise
(in USD million)Tax losses carried forwardProperty, plant and equipment and intangible assetsAsset retirement obligationsLease liabilitiesPensionsDerivativesOtherTotal
Deferred tax at 31 December 2020
Deferred tax assets4,67690511,2051,869787301,81121,284
Deferred tax liabilities(0)(26,607)0(4)(11)(236)(676)(27,533)
Net asset/(liability) at 31 December 20204,676(25,701)11,2051,865777(206)1,135(6,250)
Deferred tax at 31 December 2019
Deferred tax assets5,1733699,3971,8987331081,61219,291
Deferred tax liabilities0(24,115)(0)(0)(13)(119)(573)(24,820)
Net asset/(liability) at 31 December 20195,173(23,746)9,3971,898720(11)1,040(5,530)
Changes in net deferred tax liability during the year [Table Text Block]
Changes in net deferred tax liability during the year were as follows:
(in USD million)202020192018
Net deferred tax liability at 1 January5,5305,3675,213
Charged/(credited) to the Consolidated statement of income435(381)563
Charged/(credited) to Other comprehensive income(19)98(22)
Foreign currency translation effects and other effects304446(386)
Net deferred tax liability at 31 December6,2505,5305,367
Disclosure of Net deferred tax assets and liabilities [Table Text Block]
At 31 December
(in USD million)20202019
Deferred tax assets4,9743,881
Deferred tax liabilities11,2249,410
Disclosure of unrecognised deferred tax assets [Table Text Block]
Unrecognised deferred tax assets
At 31 December
20202019
(in USD million)BasisTaxBasisTax
Deductible temporary differences2,8661,2042,5501,138
Unused tax credits021200
Tax losses carried forward23,4345,67718,2594,366
Total unrecognised deferred tax assets26,3007,09320,8095,504