Tullow Oil is to become the first oil company to disclose its payments to foreign governments with the level of detail demanded by anti-corruption campaigners, advancing a transparency drive that has met fierce resistance in parts of the industry.

Campaigners said the FTSE 100 company’s decision to undertake project-by-project reporting undermined the US oil industry lobby, which is seeking to block regulators from making such disclosures mandatory for oil and mining groups.

“This information is being released as part of our commitment to ensure that there is transparency around our payments to governments in the countries in which we work,” said Tullow ahead of today’s release of its annual report containing the new disclosures.

The London-listed but Irish managed group, which has been at the forefront of recent oil discoveries in Africa, said its disclosures would be in line with an EU directive that will oblige oil and mining companies to publish tax, royalty and other payments to foreign governments.

– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014)