SEC may loosen rules on oil reserve reporting, Clayton says

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Equipment used for the extraction of natural gas is viewed at a hydraulic fracturing site on June 19, 2012 in South Montrose, Pennsylvania.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering loosening the rules on producers of oil and gas to allow them to report more of their reserves.

Current rules limit those companies from reporting reserves “as proved” to those they plan to unearth within five years.

Rep. Frank Lucas, a Republican from energy-rich Oklahoma, asked SEC Chairman Jay Clayton whether that still makes sense in light of the shale revolution.

“This has been the policy since 2008,” he said. “At that time, shale accounted for a much smaller percentage of oil and gas production than it does now, and I would suggest to you that this five-year rule might not reflect the realities of the new American energy landscape,” he said.

Clayton said the agency was considering a rewrite of the rule.

“I’m concerned in this space that the way our rules require disclosure is inconsistent with the way investors value these companies. So they are looking for additional disclosures, and we should make sure that our rules lines up with what investors think is the material information.”

The SEC chairman’s comments come a day ahead of a crucial gathering of energy producers led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna.

Read: What time is the OPEC meeting?

U.S. benchmark crude oil prices












CLQ8, -0.11%










 were most recently trading down 0.2% at $65.64 a barrel Thursday afternoon, while natural-gas futures for July delivery












NGN18, +0.03%










were off 0.3% at $2.954 per million British thermal units.



Source : MTV