2 Nov 2017

...“We are disappointed with the Department of Interior’s unilateral decision to withdraw from USEITI. We are dismayed by the DOI’s characterization that meeting the EITI validation standard is somehow stymied by US law. In reality, the refusal of all but a handful of the involved companies to disclose tax payments – not US law – rendered the US unable to meet the basic level of transparency required by the EITI. To be clear, US law does not prevent oil, gas or mining companies from voluntarily disclosing their taxes – common practice in the dozens of EITI implementing countries,” said Jana Morgan, Director of Publish What You Pay – United States. “In fact, Houston-based oil company Kosmos Energy voluntarily disclosed their tax payments to the US government last year. However, with the support of the American Petroleum Institute (API) companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil have consistently refused to comply with the EITI requirement to disclose their federal tax payments.”...

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