Oil Majors Rapped Over Secrecy, Corruption
WASHINGTON - Leading oil firms impede efforts to stamp out poverty and corruption by shrouding their financial dealings in secrecy, says a global watchdog.
Transparency International, in a new report, says Western firms and those from developing countries are similarly opaque when it comes to disclosing their payments to governments in countries where poverty prevails despite an abundance of natural resources.
Sixty percent of the world’s poorest people live in such countries, the group says. Most constitutions grant citizens ultimate ownership of their country’s natural resources, it adds, but much data on what companies pay for the right to exploit these resources, and on how host governments spend this money, remains hidden from public scrutiny.
Development opportunities are being squandered in the process.
“The tragic paradox, that many resource-rich countries remain poor, stems from a lack of data on oil and gas revenues and how they are managed. Companies must do more to increase transparency,” said Huguette Labelle, the group’s chairperson.
Global oil revenues amounted to some 866 billion dollars in 2006. For less than 10 percent of this sum, the world could have funded the U.N. Millennium Development Goals on reducing poverty, famine, disease, and illiteracy, says the report released on Monday. The international community estimated in 2006 that meeting the goals would cost about 73 billion dollars.
The survey also finds that the most transparent firms fared well financially, suggesting there is no trade-off between profits and openness.
“Revenue transparency is a win-win equation,” said Cobus de Swardt, the group’s managing director. “The benefits to all, especially the world’s poorest, can be enormous.”
When companies and governments are fully transparent, citizens, journalists, civil society, researchers, and investigators can track revenue flows, hold public officials to account, and discourage corruption, says Transparency International.
With oil prices at record highs and industry revenues among members of the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel alone expected to approach 1 trillion dollars in this year, the report says, “the question of transparency has never been more critical.”
Governments have ultimate responsibility to ensure transparency and to make certain that their citizens enjoy the benefits of oil extraction, Transparency International says, adding that it is preparing reports devoted to assessing the performance of officials in the countries where oil majors are based or operate.
In its latest report, the group urges firms to come clean without further delay. It recommends that firms report all revenue payments to governments on a country-by-country basis. At present, it says, a few firms provide only global and regional figures. The group also wants companies to publish their reserves, production costs and anti-graft measures, including details of punishments meted out to staff involved in corruption.
Building on its years of advocacy and on broader efforts including those of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI, an umbrella for governments, firms, and lobbies), Transparency International also is urging governments, stock exchanges and regulatory agencies to mandate such reporting for companies operating at home and abroad.
Regulatory agencies and companies, it adds, should agree to publish information in a uniform and accessible format that facilitates comparison.
Unless these changes are made, the report says, a new generation of global players — firms from emerging Asia, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union — will perpetuate the so-called resource curse of poverty, repression, and environmental degradation thus far blamed on corruption and mismanagement by crooked Third World rulers and collusive Western firms.
Among developing-country firms in greatest need of openness on operations at home or abroad, the report highlights the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), Malaysia’s Petronas, Indonesia’s Pertamina, the Kuwait Petroleum Corp., Russia’s Lukoil, and Venezuela’s PDVSA. Keeping these firms company at the bottom of the report’s transparency league is U.S.-based ExxonMobil, rated the world’s largest oil company in financial terms.
Firms at the top of the table — but still falling short of the transparency standards sought by the report — include PetroChina, Mexico’s Pemex, Brazil’s Petrobras, and Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Shell.
A number of the companies cited have defended their disclosure practices or announced initiatives aimed at increasing transparency. Some declined to comment on Transparency International’s report while others were quoted as disagreeing with the group’s methods or conclusions. The report acknowledges that the industry has made progress but argues this remains insufficient.
© 2008 Inter Press Service
Worth repeating:
Lee Iacocca
This makes sense no matter what political party you might be for……… The
two party system ????
Remember Lee Iacocca , the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it’s death
throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.
Lee Iacocca Says:
“Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where
the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a
gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got
corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a
hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone
sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course”
Stay the course? You’ve got to b e kidding. This is America, not the damned
“Titanic”. I’ll give you a sound bite: “Throw all the bums out!”
You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I
have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in
handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody
seems to know what to do. And the press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking
hard questions. That’s not the promise of the ” America” my parents and yours
traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not
outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have.
The Biggest “C” is Crisis !
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy
to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk th eory. Or send someone
else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s
another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001 , we needed a strong leader more than any other time in
our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a
Mess. So here’s where we stand. We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for
winning and no plan for leaving. We’re running the biggest deficit in the
history of the country. We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our
once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices
are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools
are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being
squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: “Where have all the leaders gone?”
Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of
character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a
sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take
off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We’ve spent billions of
dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to
things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress
has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or
demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours
after the storm. Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t
happen again. Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a
plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore
our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could
ever be a time when “The Big Three” referred to Japanese car companies? How did
this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt,
or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence
is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and
milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses
and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our
greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of?
That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why
don’t you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light
a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope; I believe in America . In my
lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America ’s greatest
moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: the “Great
Depression”, “World War II”, the
“Korean War”, the “Kennedy Assassination”, the “Vietnam War”, the 1970s oil
crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I’ve
learned one thing, it’s this:
“You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else
to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future
for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising
in this book. It’s a call to
“Action” for people who, like me, believe in America . It’s not too late, but
it’s getting pretty close. So let’s shake off the crap and go to work. Let’s
tell ‘em al l we’ve had “enough.”
Make a “real contribution” by sending this to everyone you know and care
about……our future is at stake!
And who can lead better than We the People, politicians? Throw the bums out! Direct democracy by referendum:
http://nationalinitiative.us/
EZ,
Worth repeating indeed. Darn it…now that’ll make eleven books I’m reading at the same time. I need longer bus rides!
Hi all - Here’s a little notion that I used to have on a plaque on my wall (but I don’t know who wrote it so can’t give credit where it’s due) -
“I wondered why somebody didn’t do something, but then I realized that I am somebody”.
Enough talk already.
Sixty percent of the world’s poorest people live in such countries, the group says. Most constitutions grant citizens ultimate ownership of their country’s natural resources
This should be headline news in the mainstream media. That it is not is evidence of a soul-destroying decadent capitalist excess.
but much data on what companies pay for the right to exploit these resources, and on how host governments spend this money, remains hidden from public scrutiny.
This revelation should stop the US dead in its tracks on May 1 with the people defying their bosses in solidarity with the west coast longshormen.
But instead, US Americans will continue to ignore the rights of all world citizens to achieve freedom from want. At the very least this freedom should be extracted as a concession from global capital in exchange for the plundering of the people’s resources, but much preferably it should come from the people’s control over such resource extraction kept to very modest rate, and universal education, skills, self-sufficiency and security in the economic and civic fundamentals for all people.
Ignore the global injustice perpetrated by the capitalist hijackers of the US government, go back to watching your “American Idol” and watch your children and grandchildren inherit a violent, degraded, plundered world from YOU.
We don’t have to go to the “developing world” to find corruption and secrecy between Big Oil and government resulting in more poverty. The Whitehouse, Congress, and the Pentagon are all part of the destruction of our Republic and the economy.
And if citizens sue to know what went on in the secret Whitehouse energy meetings prior to 9/11, the Supreme Court will block access to those documents while Congress rolls over.
The plain truth is MIC Big Oil corporate fascists are getting richer while the average American becomes poorer.
Inflated energy costs are pushing more and more Americans into deeper poverty with no end in sight. This is little more than a transfer of wealth from the many to the few.
And the long term Big Oil MIC plan is to continue to drain our already depressed economy with a perpetual occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Profits for them and a disaster for us !
A guy on CD admonished me for suggesting the genocide in Rwanda and the 5 million dead in Congo had something to do with secret exploitation of coltan. He said, “Rwanda has no coltan, therefore Rwandan genocide could not have been connected to coltan.”
How does he explain Rwanda’s exportation of hundreds of millions of dollars in coltan and the Rwandan military invovlement in Congo’s constant civil war?
I have never heard/read a single news journalist NOT EVEN ONCE put 2 + 2 together and link Congo-Rwanda-Dafur together with the coltan in our laptops, cell phones, x-boxes and PS-2 game systems. Our “news” calls it tragic tribal genocide.
Western corporations raped/continue to rape Congo even while their mercenaries propped up/continue to prop up tribal warlords who maintain hopelessness so that the poorest people on earth (Congolese) cannot organize themselves enough to enjoy the greatest wealth on earth (Congolese natural resources).
Does anybody see a pattern?
It’s sickening.
“When companies and governments are fully transparent, citizens, journalists, civil society, researchers, and investigators can track revenue flows, hold public officials to account, and discourage corruption, says Transparency International.”
And this is precisely why we cannot assume that most companies and governments will do the “ethical” thing. They don’t want you to be able to track corruption!
Again and again and again…
“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon he wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!” — Mario Savio, Berkeley Free Speech Movement
WE START BY BOYCOTTING ALL EXXON PRODUCTS. DO NOT FILL YOUR CAR UP AT EXXON/MOBIL STATIONS.
Hear me: people argue “why just Exxon, when other companies are just as guilty?” The answer is we have to pick JUST ONE COMPANY and show the bastards that we CAN MOVE THEIR STOCKS DOWN JUST A TICK. That’s all we need to do.
You hear Bush calling us “consumers” instead of “citizens?” Let’s call these pieces of CRAP out on it. Choose a stock price, Exxon, whatever–and LET’S MOVE IT DOWN!!!
“This should be headline news in the mainstream media.”
We really need to stop worrying about the corporate media. I really liked the long comment near the top, and to me this is the same idea.
As I think about this, one thing that strikes me is that we expect the corporate media to just hand us a solution to our problems. Not only that, but we expect a solution that will transfer money and power from the corporations back to the people.
Why on earth would we expect a media that is entirely subsidiaries of corporations to do this for us?
Lets stop worrying about the mainstream or corporate media. Concentrate on our own efforts. We live in an age where there are effective means of communications available to us all. The simple forwarding of emails can be a very effective way of communicating. Plus we have blogs and YouTube and many other tools at our disposal.
So, the corporate media is going to do what’s good for the corporate bottom line. The thing we have to do is to realize that and the corollary that what they say, suggest, attack, promote, etc is not meant to be about our interests. What I want is a day when the corporate media says something, and no one cares.
PS … as a tiny bit of self-promotion, I’m trying to do start to do my own writing and communicating at www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com
When we stand up to the government, we’ll be branded terrorist’s we all have to stand together at one time to be heard, the news won’t help us,join we the people,at least they are doing something,but we need more people to be really heard
We have become a nation of addicts. We sit around and do nothing but feed our addictions.
“Hi. I am allthumz and I am addicted to the internet.”
Simo: Don’t you understand this boycotting crap doesn’t work. Exxon is a global company there are over 180 countries that use fuel. So when you don’t fuel up at Exxon it doesn’t mean squat even if everyone would do it. So get real. Realize there isn’t a damn thing you can do for this country except watch it go down the tubes. I myself am buying gold and silver and looking forward to this sickening empire die it’s rightful death.
I disagree. Boycott Exxon–this site, like all others on the net is world-wide. We CAN effect Exxon. We CAN decide to take back our power. All we have to do is show these bastards that we can manipulate the market–then we get respect. Let’s play with their numbers–the ONLY thing these boys care about is PROFIT. Let’s play with their profit!!
Most of the oil is now controlled by nationalised interest…80%… Those nations use the “old” oil companies to manage their oil production. The new “owners” of oil will use their national armies to make sure oil is produced as cheaply as possible…screw the environment of both the workers and of the land the oil comes from!!!!! Corporations sell out to the wealthy national states that have the guns to protect their resource.
The wars right now are over the wealth created from oil….there is tons of food for all its that the poor can’t afford it…over the next ten years it will shift to the availability whats left of the food created from “cheap” oil based on the rising cost of that oil.
welcome to the 21st cent!
If you are under 30 years of age …live on a boat!
…with sails ….LOL!
Go see “There will be blood” It says it all about the greed for oil.
We could see this handwriting on the wall when the President of Vice (VPOTUS) conducted his oily cabal business behind closed doors. But Boycotting Tony the Tiger? I cannot afford to pay for their products with Bushbucks anyway.
Here’s my suggestion for raising hell (I’ve been sending this to a variety of blogs discussing the oil tax “holiday” proposal, but it applies here as well):
We don’t need TAX relief. Taxes are our money to invest in the ways we need, such as roads and bridges and other infrastructure. We need PROFIT relief. This is our money to take back from shareholders, so we can invest in conservation and renewable energy, instead of CEO salaries and yachts and private islands. We don’t get anything out of the profit they make on us. They don’t even invest in new refineries and other bottlenecks that have raised gasoline prices unnecessarily. The only way toward a sane energy policy is to assert public control over what is a vital national security resource (so we’re told) and to nationalize the oil companies. If it’s such an important resource, why are we allowing profiteering? Why are we protecting corporations with our military? Nationalization would allow the government to charge prices that would cover production costs, as well as investment in infrastructure and renewable energy sources, while saving money. Drilling for new oil and gas is not the answer. The only remaining places to drill for new oil and gas are in extremely environmentally sensitive areas and in areas that deprive indigenous people of their livelihoods. This is not acceptable and we should not be spending money on “defense” to take this oil out of the ground. Obviously, Republican solutions like “tax relief” can only make matters worse. We have a diminishing inventory of fossil fuels (mostly in the Middle East), and very little left elsewhere that can’t be taken out of the ground except at great environmental and human cost. We need to use this resource judiciously to transition to renewable energy at the earliest possible date. We don’t need to raise taxes provided we can use existing money spent at the gas pump for the real work of building a sustainable economy. Let’s get real and solve this problem as if we really were a real democracy (oh…we’re not?).
“I wondered why somebody didn’t do something, then I realized I was somebody.” Sen. Hubert Humphrey MN. - Another MN. Senator tried to do something also. His name was Paul Wellstone.
ezeflyer,
Thank you, for the good or excellent excerpt from Lee Iacocca’s book. I was hoping you’d have excerpted enough to satisfy me, and got what I desired.
andrew.herman ,
Good post; I definitely agree, and appreciate what you wrote, after what I’ve read from Keith Harmon Snow, Larry Chin, and some others, who’ve had articles posted at www.globalresearch.ca . I always prefer to find more than one person saying something important; if what’s said is true, that is.
Clearly, we need FULL DISCLOSURES.
andrew.herman,
You wrote, “I have never heard/read a single news journalist NOT EVEN ONCE put 2 + 2 together and link …”.
You’re asking too much of them; it’s rocket science for them. They can’t do 2+2 yet, for they still haven’t figured out what 2 is; given they still don’t know what 1+1 produces.
Did all of you read about the students at the University of Central Florida who have created their own bio-diesel fuel? They were tired of filling their cars with $4/gal. gas and instead, took the grease from all of the fast food restaurants and converted it into bio-diesel. It costs them $.80/gal. and burns cleaner than the diesel fuel produced by oil companies! Three cheers for creative univeristy students!!! A poke in the eye to the oil companies!!!
ezflyer quotes an excellent book entitled “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?” by former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca. Already, just reading the introduction has whetted my appetite for more (I work in a library, and I just went to the shelves and located this book which now sits on my desk to be read!). I think that we all ought to buy copies of this book and send it to every member of Congress and every Presidential candidate.
Iacocca is so right on about the state we’ve allowed our country to devolve into. And we’ve only ourselves to blame, for voting a guy into the White House who some folks thought would make a great backyard compadre to invite to a barbecue and drink a beer with. Well, if you want my honest opinion, that is no basis for leadership. This isn’t American Idol. This is the leader of the free world, and we’ve got to do a better job of choosing our leaders based on real experience and leadership capability, not just looks or personality or who would be fun to drink a beer with at a backyard barbecue. We’ve seen what happened when we did that. A lot of Republicans now have a bad case of buyer’s regret that they even voted this bozo and his cronies into office.
The Bush’s used to invest in Hilter’s war machine like the Dulles brothers and many old titans.
Here are some of their more up to date deals. http://democracyrising.us/content/view/57/72/
It seems they shy away from any corporation that can be boycotted and go for financial groups that facilitate the War Machine… they are not stupid but Smart War Criminals.
There are over a hundred thousand Google links to Bush Clinton financial connections and here is a good one http://brothermartin.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/more-on-the-clinton-bush-connection/
We need action soon…. vote Nader!
Well, that might not happen soon though.
ezeflyer:
Glad to see you’re on board with The National Initiative!
By chance, are you also sympathetic to Mike Gravel’s candidacy?