...The move was an inevitable result of the insistence of major U.S. oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron on keeping their U.S. tax payments secret. In addition, earlier this year, these companies led the attack on a related U.S. regulation that required extractive companies to publish their payments to governments around the world.

“We strongly dispute the U.S. government’s claim that U.S. laws prevent compliance with the EITI standard when it is Exxon and Chevron’s preference for secrecy that made it impossible for the U.S. to comply,” said Corinna Gilfillan, Head of U.S. Office at Global Witness. “When major Russian and Chinese oil companies are disclosing more information about their deals around the world than their U.S. counterparts, you have got to ask: what are Exxon and Chevron so desperate to hide?”...

[We invited Chevron and ExxonMobil to respond to this article. ExxonMobil response provided. Chevron did not respond.]