Regulatory filings last year reveal that the three biggest U.S. energy exploration companies paid foreign governments about $42 billion, nearly eight times the amount they spent domestically.
This year, a new mandate from the Securities and Exchange Commission required the disclosures from Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp, and ConocoPhillips for the first time ever.
In order to shed light on Big Oil’s international financial dealings in its global search for oil and determine whether American taxpayers are fairly sharing in the benefits of the country’s skyrocketing production, transparency activists have been lobbying for the rule for more than ten years.
Laptops 1000The vast Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico has experienced a boom, largely responsible for the United States’ recent rise to the top of the global oil and gas production charts.
“The truth is that when it comes to the extraction of our natural resources, we in the United States get one of the worst deals,” stated Michelle Harrison, deputy general counsel for the environmental advocacy organization EarthRights International.
Even though the United States provides over 25% of Exxon’s global exploration and production earnings, approximately 90% of the company’s nearly $25 billion in global payments to governments abroad were made in 2023.
The United Arab Emirates ($7.4 billion), Indonesia ($4.6 billion), and Malaysia ($3.2 billion) topped the list of countries to which the Texas-based oil giant paid out $22.5 billion in taxes, royalties, and other goods overseas, according to the reports.
In contrast, according to Exxon’s report, the company made around $2.3 billion in U.S.-based payments in 2023, of which only $1.2 billion went to the Internal Revenue Service.
