Beware the Far-Reaching Nature of Fin-Reg (XOM, MUR, APC)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that insiders in the Energy sector are hitting the ceiling this morning as they find out that the recently passed Dodd-Frank Act will have implications that reach much further than the financial sector.

Apparently one provision in the bill orders resource companies to reveal royalties, bonuses and other payments to governments for the “commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals.” Management at Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) believe that this level of transparency will hurt competitiveness of U.S. integrated and E&P companies by providing competitors with specific terms of pending transactions.

On the other side of the coin, Pritchard Capital Partners analysts noted that the move potentially helps smaller players like Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE: MUR) or Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) to work their way into concessions formerly dominated by major integrated.