Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM), Chevron Corporation (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP): Are Oil Companies Skimping on Their Taxes?

ConocoPhillips
Market cap: $75.6 billion.

Total 2012 income tax liability: $7.9 billion.

The IRS’s cut: $687 million ($63 million current, $624 million deferred).

Valero
Market cap: $18.4 billion.

Total 2012 income tax liability: $1.6 billion.

Of which: $1.3 billion went to the IRS, and only $266 million to foreign tax jurisdictions.

Chesapeake Energy
Market cap: $13.6 billion.

Total 2012 income tax liability: Negative $380 million.

Comprised of: $341 million in tax credits from the IRS, $38 million more from the States, and $1 million from “other.”

Which of these facts and figures surprises you most? That Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) pays 90% of its taxes to foreign countries? That Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) paid twice as much taxes to the IRS as did ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) — a company four times its size? Or that Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) is incurring no tax liability during the biggest natural gas boom in history? Tell us below.

The article Are Oil Companies Skimping on Their Taxes? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Smith.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Chevron. The Motley Fool has the following options: Long Jan 2014 $20 Calls on Chesapeake Energy, Long Jan 2014 $30 Calls on Chesapeake Energy, and Short Jan 2014 $15 Puts on Chesapeake Energy.

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