Open book rule for oil and gas firms considered by SEC

A hearing was held Wednesday by the Securities Exchange Commission to consider a rule to require oil and gas companies to open their books and reveal payments made to foreign governments.

It was the third such consideration of such a rule after the American Petroleum Association was successful in challenging a version in 2012 followed by the Republicans in 2017 who killed a second version by using the Congressional Review Act.

The SEC could get around the CRA’s stipulation that a new rule significantly differ from the previous version by removing a one-year exemption for payments made in connection to exploratory activities or by adding new categories for payments requiring disclosure, said Joe Williams, advocacy manager for Natural Resource Governance Institute, which supports the proposal, according to POLITICO’s Morning Energy Report.

Exxon and other U.S. companies previously opposed the rule, saying it would disclose business strategies. But Canada, the EU and Norway all have versions of the foreign payment disclosure rule on their books, usually inspired by the U.S. version that never truly went into effect, Williams added. “And we haven’t seen BP, Total or other companies lose business from that,” Williams told ME. “Hundreds of companies are already doing that without having visible impacts or losing business.” An API spokesperson did not reply to questions about the SEC once again pondering the rule.