Ireland is revamping its fiscal and licensing regime for oil and gas and soon will invite operators to bid for Porcupine basin blocks on its challenging Atlantic margin.The government has added a “profit resource rent tax,” graded according to profitability, to the 25% corporate tax already in effect. Changes apply to licenses awarded after Jan. 1, 2007.Grades for the new tax depend on “profit ratio,” defined as “rate of profits less 25% corporate tax divided by the accumulated level of capital investment.”On licenses where the profit ratio is less than 1.5, there will be no change in the tax rate beyond that of the corporate tax. The tax rate will incr...