WASHINGTON, August 21, 2012 – API Chief Economist John Felmy told reporters this morning that the draconian approach the Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to take on its new regulations implementing Section 1504 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law will force disclosure of commercially sensitive information that will hurt the competitiveness of America’s oil and natural gas companies and cost jobs back home:
“The SEC appears to want to require publicly traded energy firms to release commercially sensitive, detailed payment information about every foreign and U.S. project. With a few clicks of a mouse, state-owned foreign firms – companies like the China National Petroleum Company and Russia’s Gazprom – could plunder that information, which could help them determine their rivals’ strategies and resource levels.
“Unfortunately, disclosure would not be a two-way street. State-owned foreign companies would have to reveal nothing – and might even be favored for projects in host countries reluctant to have financial information disclosed.
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