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Transparency International launches 2008 Report on
Revenue Transparency of Oil and Gas Companies
April 28, 2008
Transparency International releases the above report
which is part of the Promoting Revenue Transparency
(“PRT”) Project of TI in collaboration with Revenue
Watch Institute and Publish What You Pay coalition
members. PRT aims at raising awareness amongst all
stakeholders of the importance of revenue transparency
and how his may be achieved, sustained and mainstreamed.
The broad objectives of the Report are to measure
revenue transparency and steps for improvement, develop
broad standards, and support the use of revenue
transparency standards and measures of performance by
companies, rating agencies, investors, government
regulators and civil society. The focus on revenue
transparency is important as a lack of transparency
breeds corruption, theft, and mismanagement. Revenue
transparency will contribute to sustainable development,
reduce corruption and improve governance.
This pilot Report covers 42 oil and gas companies and 21
countries. Malaysia’s national oil company, Petroliam
Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS). PETRONAS cooperated fully in
the research and verification of the data.
The following are the key findings of the Report:
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Revenue Transparency is not yet common practice in
the industry. The weakest area is reporting on
payments to host governments.
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Wide variation exists in company practice. Leading
companies demonstrate that revenue transparency is
possible.
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Good practice in revenue transparency starts at
home, where regulation has a strong influence on
current company revenue transparency practices.
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Regulatory practices produce systematic impact. If
there are more demanding regulations at home,
companies are likely to report consistently in all
their countries of operation. Often though, national
oil company behaviour at home and abroad is
different, suggesting that host regulations are not
enough.
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Disclosure of information on revenue transparency is
hindered by diverse formats of reporting that are
different to obtain, interpret and compare across
companies and countries.
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