On March 16, 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an updated “Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Lending” booklet to replace the previous booklet on the same subject matter, which was issued in April of 2014. The updated booklet provides “updated guidance to examiners on the risks inherent in lending to upstream oil and gas exploration and production companies and provides supervisory guidance on prudent risk management of this lending activity.” Among other updates, the revised booklet: expands descriptions of the oil and gas business, types of oil and gas reserves, and lending structures; expands descriptions of prudent risk management for this line of business; expands and clarifies regulatory rating characteristics and factors that examiners should consider when evaluating oil and gas exploration and production loans; clarifies the differences between traditional asset-based lending and oil and gas reserve-based lending; and expands the discussion of the allowance for loan and lease losses.

The updated Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Lending booklet can be found at: http://occ.gov/publications/publications-by-type/comptrollers-handbook/pub-ch-og.pdf.