Top U.S. Oil Firms Balk at Forced Disclosure

Exxon Mobil Corp. and ChevronTexaco Corp., the two largest U.S. oil companies, said Tuesday that they would resist moves to force them to disclose dealings with oil-producing countries to counter corruption in emerging markets.

Any disclosure agreement must be voluntary and drawn up with the consent of the nations affected, the companies said at a London conference on transparency in the oil and mining industries.

Some oil companies have argued for mandatory disclosure rules.

“We must move forward with a voluntary, level playing field. Otherwise private companies may not sign up,” Sam Laidlaw, an executive vice president at ChevronTexaco, told the conference. ChevronTexaco is headquartered in San Ramon, Calif.

The purpose of the conference in London is to reach an agreement on what steps companies might take to prevent oil industry payments from leading to corruption, civil wars and environmental disaster in developing nations.

Exxon is unwilling to back a compulsory catch-all framework and wants to see rules tailored to take account of political and cultural realities in individual oil-producing states, said Andrew Swiger, chairman of the Irving, Texas-based company’s international division.

“This is very complex for extractive industries,” Swiger said in an interview. “All countries have different political environments and governmental views.”

Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, is concerned about financial disclosure relating to any agreement, Jacques de Boisseson, director of international relations for the Paris-based company, told the conference.

“Part of our business is undertaken with an element of anonymity,” he said. “You can’t play around with that.”

Speaking at the conference, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that only through joint action between oil companies and host governments could the transparency initiative have a chance of working.

“We need a uniform agreement,” said Blair, whose government instigated the conference. “The issues won’t be resolved overnight but it is important that companies are not competitively disadvantaged.”

The exploitation of oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa may lead to a new cycle of conflict and graft, according to a study by Catholic Relief Services, a U.S. aid agency, released Tuesday.

Governments in the region will receive move than $200 billion in oil revenue over the next decade, according to the report, and the U.S. will soon be importing 25% of its petroleum from the region.

“Petrodollars have not helped developing countries to reduce poverty,” the report said. “In many cases, they have actually exacerbated it.”