Bessent calls for World Bank reforms, including upstream oil and gas financing

BANGKOK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a long list of demands for the World Bank in line with Trump administration interests, including ending the bank's prohibition on financing upstream oil and gas projects, putting resources into deep-sea critical minerals mining and reforming its procurement policies.

Bessent, in a statement issued late on Wednesday to the steering committees of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, also said that the IMF should do more to push back on countries' non-market policies that lead to global imbalances, a veiled reference to US criticism of China.

Here are key highlights of the US statement:

• Bessent said the World Bank should take a technology-neutral approach to energy and remove constraints on natural gas and oil projects. "The Bank cannot credibly invoke country ownership while categorically excluding upstream projects before their development merits are even assessed"

• The US Treasury said it is making an initial contribution to a new World Bank-administered Nuclear Energy Assistance Trust Fund to help countries lay the groundwork for future nuclear power investments

• The Treasury said the World Bank has an important role to play in developing critical minerals mining and processing capacity. "This includes deep-sea mining, where the Bank can play a catalytic role by providing knowledge and guidance in a nascent sector," the Treasury said

• Bessent called for faster graduation of wealthier countries such as China and Poland from World Bank borrowing. He said the bank's project procurement policies should be reformed to not encourage subsidies, or reward distortive industrial policies, adding that it should "pursue procurement reforms that result in greater competition and quality"

• The Treasury said that the IMF must go further in boosting its analysis of global imbalances, including the impact of non-market policies and practices and exchange rates. "The IMF was founded to prevent these kinds of distortive policies and negative spillovers, and must exercise its voice on this critical issue or risk being sidelined"

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by John Mair)