Exxon Mobil Corp. spent $3.81 million in the second quarter to lobby the U.S federal government on offshore oil drilling and other issues, according to a disclosure report.
That’s up from the $2.52 million that the oil giant spent in the same period a year ago and the $3.01 million it spent in the first three months of the year.
The Irving, Texas Company also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving regulation of air and water quality, toxic substances, greenhouse gases, cyber security and new drilling techniques, according to the report filed on July 20.
Since the BP oil spill in 2010, Exxon has led an industry effort to build a response network of drill ships and emergency equipment that can respond to another blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. The government lifted its moratorium on deepwater drilling this year in part because of new security measures like that.
Exxon hasn’t traditionally been one of the major players in Gulf of Mexico drilling, but in June the company said it tapped a series of oil deposits in the gulf that could be one of the largest discoveries in years. Its exploration project 250 miles southwest of New Orleans could yield as much as 700 million barrels of recoverable oil and gas equivalent.
In the April-to-June period, Exxon Mobil lobbied Congress, the departments of the interior, state, defence, treasury, education, commerce, the Bureau of Land Management, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management & Budget, the U.S. Forest Service, according to the report filed in July with the House clerk’s office.
