sale of zola/bianchi prospects., page-47

Sheepskin

I suggest Tap's dividend policy is not to pay dividends but to increase shareholder wealth by re-investing profits. Tap's mission statement is probably along the lines of "exploration, development, and production of oil and gas properties". They would be expected to finance those activities from profits and so they don't pay dividends.

Here is a very brief discussion on dividend policy in Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividend_policy