Report: Chevron Paid More to African Petrostates Than US in 2023

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Chevron Corporation paid $6.25 billion in taxes and shared oil production to Nigeria, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea in 2023, three times more than the company paid to the US government.

Chevron revealed the figures for the first time in a filing earlier under Section 1504 of the Dodd Frank Act, which was finalised in 2020 and had a publication deadline, Bloomberg reported.

Australia, where Chevron operates giant liquefied natural gas operations, topped the tax list, receiving $3.98 billion. Chevron’s US tax and royalty bill was $1.99 billion despite the company producing more oil and gas in the nation than anywhere else.

Advocates for tax transparency have been calling for US oil companies to reveal their payments to host country governments for many years, arguing the disclosure is essential to avoiding corruption.

European and Australian commodity producers have been publishing their payments for several years, but their US counterparts lobbied the Securities and Exchange Commission against such a rule.

“Civil society is really excited to see disclosure after 15 years of intense fighting and lobbying by the US oil and gas industry,” said Aubrey Menard, Senior Policy Advisor for Natural Resource justice at Oxfam America.

“The disclosures will allow us to see what we’re actually receiving in exchange of our natural resources, whether it’s a fair deal or if we’re subsidizing our own extinction,” Menard said.