Aug 21 (Reuters) - Regulators are poised on Wednesday to finalize rules requiring U.S.-listed oil and mining companies to disclose payments they make to foreign governments.
This is an especially sensitive issue for oil companies doing business in some of the most corrupt parts of the world, where drilling or exploration licenses that can run into billions of dollars.
The table below lists countries where Big Oil has a presence that also make up the bottom 20 of Transparency International's 2011 corruption perceptions index.
The new rules, from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, affect U.S.-based public companies and foreign companies with secondary listings on U.S. stock markets.
The problem of corruption and extractive industries has also faced scrutiny this year from the European Union.
Industry groups have opposed the U.S. initiative to add transparency to the payments, saying it would force companies to release proprietary information about their operations that rivals could exploit.
Country/TI rank Exxon Shell Chevron BP Total SA
Cambodia (164) X
Yemen (164) X X
Angola (168) X X X X
Chad (168) X X
DR Congo (168) X
Libya (168) X X
Eq.Guinea (172) X
Venezuela (172) X X X X X
Iraq (175) X X X X X
Myanmar (180) X X
Sources: Transparency International, company annual reports
(Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
