More money was paid to foreign governments last year by U.S. oil and gas companies than they paid in the U.S. – almost eight times more, according to filings now required with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Collectively, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips made $47.9 billion in payments last year – of which the U.S. received $5.6 billion and $42.3 billion was made in payments overseas.
The filings were the first ever made under a new Securities and Exchange Commission requirement.
According to Reuters, ConocoPhillips made $6.5 billion in global payments last year. Of that amount, $1.3 billion – one-fifth of the total payments – were made in the U.S. Payments to foreign governments totaled $5.2 billion.
ExxonMobil’s global payments in 2023 totaled $25 billion – and nearly 90% of that went to foreign governments, even though nearly a quarter of the Texas-based oil company’s exploration and production earnings came from the United States.
The oil giant paid $22.5 billion in taxes, royalties and other items overseas. The SEC filings indicated Exxon-Mobil paid $7.4 billion to the United Arab Emirates, $4.6 billion to Indonesia, and $3.2 billion to Malaysia. ExxonMobil’s payments in the U.S. were $2.3 billion, including $1.2 billion to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Chevron’s payments to foreign governments were $14.6 billion in 2023. That included $4 billion to Australia, twice as much as the company’s U.S. payments of $2 billion.
Reuters reported that Chevron’s holdings in the Permian Basin total approximately 2.2 million acres – and either low or no royalty payments are paid on about 75% of that land. Chevron executives contend that creates shareholder value.
The U.S. has become the world’s largest oil and gas producer in recent years, primarily because of a boom in the massive Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. The U.S. also is the world’s largest exporter of gasoline.
Most of Chevron’s upstream profits last year were from international markets – at $17.4 billion, compared to $4.1 billion in the United States – Chevron revealed in its 2023 annual report.
The SEC’s new disclosure rules provide a look into the significant sums that U.S. oil majors pay to foreign governments – numbers that raise questions about the fairness of U.S. resource extraction deals.