The oil and gas industry can bring great wealth to the countries in which it operates. But the revenues it brings are vulnerable to corruption. The benefits can remain with the ruling elite rather than the majority of the population. Citizens often have no way of finding out how much their governments are paid by energy companies for access to natural resources. Without knowing how much money is coming in and where it is coming from, they have no chance of holding their governments to account.Transparency is the best way to overcome the “resource curse” faced by too many of the world’s people. But voluntary disclosure by energy companies is no longer sufficient. When I was chief executive of BP, I was one of the people who helped to establish the voluntary Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, which has shone light on how energy companies operate.
See full Article: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/40dc74aa-8d3a-11e1-8b49-00144feab49a.html#axzz1t334BCjc, paid subscription required.
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