Big U . S . oil companies reveal massive payments to foreign governments

The three largest U.S. energy companies, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., and ConocoPhillips, disclosed payments to foreign governments totaling over US$42 billion in 2023, which is approximately eight times more than what they paid domestically. This disclosure, mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was a result of a decade-long push by transparency advocates to shed light on the foreign financial transactions of Big Oil in its global pursuit for oil. The United States has become the world s largest oil and gas producer, largely due to the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. However, the disclosures reveal that about 90% of Exxon s global payments went to foreign governments, despite nearly a quarter of its global exploration and production earnings coming from the U.S. The company paid out US$22.5 billion in taxes, royalties, and other items overseas, with the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and Malaysia being the top recipients. In contrast, Exxon made about US$2.3 billion in U.S.-based payments in 2023, including just US$1.2 billion to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Exxon s U.S.-based upstream earnings totaled US$4.2 billion, compared to US$17.1 billion in non-U.S. markets. Chevron paid US$14.6 billion to foreign governments in 2023, with Australia alone receiving US$4 billion. The company paid just US$2 billion in the U.S. Chevron executives see the low or no royalty payments in the Permian Basin as a significant advantage, creating shareholder value. ConocoPhillips disclosed that just US$1.3 billion of its total US$6.5 billion in global payments went to the U.S. The disclosures were made possible by Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was adopted by the SEC in 2020 after a long battle involving a federal

Source: theglobeandmail.com
Published on 2024-09-30

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