Oil Companies must report brib....err..Payments!

Well, I'm among those rather happy to see Barney Franks and Christopher Dodd hitting the retirement trail instead of the campaign trail. However, their act has left something of a legacy and in this case, perhaps it's not a bad one. Time will tell. Lets see what it means for the Oil Companies, eh?

Beginning in 2013, oil, gas and mining companies will be required to disclose payments over $100,000 made to foreign governments or the U.S. government to the SEC.
The new rules were narrowly passed by SEC Commissioners last week and were strongly opposed by the energy industry, which argued the rules will put U.S.-listed companies at a competitive disadvantage.

Uh Oh... No more hiding the 'incentives' for foreign governments to use U.S Oil companies. Perhaps, it could start a trend! If U.S. companies stop paying by our laws, why should other Oil companies continue to?

Under the new rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, resource extractors must disclose payments of more than $100,000 "made to further the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals," according to an SEC press release.

Now we could look at this as a disadvantage by saying U.S. companies can't match the ..ahem..payments..being made by others or we could look at this in a more hopeful way. The system of dollars for contracts could fall apart when some of the largest players in the market simply don't play anymore.

The companies will be required to disclose the type and total amount of payments made to each government, the currency used to make the payments, and the project to which the payments relate.

Source

Now admittedly, a closer read of the story indicates it does still leave some wiggle room, but I'd expect nothing less. Politicians wrote it, after all. However, it's about time U.S. companies start displaying some of those American values we always claim to have by being up front and at least half way honest. This gives them someone to blame for their being 'forced' to play at least somewhat above board.

It's no solution, but it's a start! It's all got to start somewhere, eh?

i guess they'll just have to stick to unlimited donations to superpacs so the u.s. military can just take oil fields for them the old fashioned way.

reply to post by randomname

Last I checked...the U.S. was nearly a trillion dollars in the red for the misadventure in Iraq. If that was a war for oil, I think I'm feeling a bit screwed from the whole deal.

This story brought to mind the tales of massive payoffs and other considerations demanded in nations around Africa and South America where it's part of doing business. All fine when it doesn't need to be reported publicly. I'm thinking this may change the game a bit. Hopefully, for the better.

This is Obama's fault these companies are much better off when the public isn't exposed to confusing numbers.