Transparency of Global Oil Companies (TI Report)

In March 2011, Transparency International (TI) issued a report on the transparency of information provided by 42 major oil and gas companies around the world.

=Findings= The report summarised its analysis into several main findings:
 * Oil and gas companies are increasingly adopting and making publicly available anti-corruption programmes, but there are many companies that still do not publish their anti-corruption codes, policies or measures.


 * Public disclosure of partnerships and subsidiaries, including their countries of incorporation, are key elements of organisational disclosure and the average results in this section were relatively high. Many national oil companies have a good level of disclosure. However, disclosure of equity or field partners in upstream operations remains infrequent, despite the fact that equity minority partnerships often present corruption risks.


 * Country-level disclosure on international operations has improved since the 2008 PRT report, and reporting on production levels has become a broadly accepted standard and there are examples of good disclosure for financial data and reserves. But country-level disclosure on international operations remains weak; many companies do not disclose any financial data on a disaggregated country-level. The host country environment itself cannot be exclusively blamed for poor disclosure. In the same host countries, often described as ‘difficult environments’, some companies disclose extensive information, while the others disclose little or none at all.

=Key Policy Recommendations=

For Companies

 * Detailed anti-corruption programmes should be publicly available
 * Companies should undertake voluntary independent assurance of anti-corruption programmes
 * Companies should publish details of their subsidiaries and fields of operations
 * Oil and gas companies should increase their reporting on a country-by-country basis
 * Companies should join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
 * Companies should create and maintain up-to-date corporate websites

For National Oil Companies (NOCs)

 * All NOCs should introduce internationally or generally accepted accounting standards, as well as publish independently audited accounts
 * The relationships between home governments and NOCs should be clear and publicly disclosed

For Public Bodies

 * The European Union should amend relevant legislation to require EU-registered companies to report on their operations on a country-by-country basis
 * All governments that are home to oil and gas producers should require companies to report on their operations on a country-by-country basis
 * Stock exchanges should enforce regulations providing for country-level reporting

For the Investor Community

 * International rating agencies and risk analysts should include anti-corruption measures in their risk evaluation models where relevant
 * The International Accounting Standards Board should require companies to report key information on a country-by-country basis
 * Corporate responsibility indices should include reporting on anti-corruption programmes, organisational disclosure and country-level disclosure

=Company Grades=

Grades of Companies Operating in Libya

Grades of Companies Operating in Iraq

=References=