Against anti competitive regulations

The API and a coalition of concerned business groups presented oral arguments to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on 22^nd March 2013, in API’s lawsuit challenging the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) implementation of Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Comments

‘US companies are already leading the way to increase transparency of their operations, and they can do it without compromising competitive information, said API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin. ‘But this rule damages the competitiveness of American companies and is not the most effective way to increase transparency in business investment abroad. The rule requires business sensitive information to be shared with American’s global competitors, giving state owned companies in China and Russia an advantage since they are not required to disclose similar information.

‘This rule will also hurt the millions of Americans who own shares in oil and natural gas companies and will cost jobs and damage America’s energy security by making it more difficult for US companies to gain access to resources abroad,’ Durbin continued. ‘With reasonable charges, the SEC could have achieved the goal of increased transparency while still remaining faithful to its core mission to protect American investors.’

The details

The SEC rule requires publicly traded energy companies to release commercially sensitive, detailed payment information about foreign and US projects, according to API. Firms would have to reveal extensive data about how much they pay in licenses, taxes, royalties and other fees, giving their competitors an upper hand when bidding for energy contracts. The SEC conservatively estimates that the rule will impose at least US$ 14 billion in costs on American companies and investors.

Adapted from press release by Claira Lloyd. 

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/25032013/anti_competitive_regulations-346/