2 Firms in SEC Probe of Foreign Payments

Marathon Oil Corp. and Amerada Hess Corp., the fourth- and fifth-largest U.S. oil producers, said the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating their payments to the government of Equatorial Guinea.

The companies said they were cooperating with the inquiry. The probe follows a U.S. Senate subcommittee report last month on transactions between Riggs National Corp. of Washington and various foreign governments, including Equatorial Guinea.

U.S. oil companies may have contributed to corruption in Equatorial Guinea by entering into ventures with government officials and their families, the report said.