BERLIN – Despite some improvements, oil and gas firms must do more to help stop corruption in the poor but resource-rich countries where they operate, watchdog Transparency International (TI) said on Tuesday. “Two-thirds of the world’s poor live in resource-rich countries. They have a right to know how much money their governments get from companies to exploit these resources,” Berlin-based TI said as it published a new report.
“It is good news that transparency is improving, but too few companies publish what they pay governments in each country where they operate.” The 2011 Report on Oil and Gas Companies rates 44 companies on the public availability of information on their anti-corruption programmes and how they report their financial results in all the countries where they operate.
Conducted together with the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), it is an expanded version of a report published in 2008 and represents 60 percent of global oil and gas production. It does show some improvements, however. In 2011 eight companies failed to score any points for reporting on anti-corruption programmes, compared to 21 out of 42 companies in the 2008 report, TI said. The full report can be downloaded at www.transparency.org.
