Pressure is growing for greater accountability and
transparency in oil and mining operations, especially in Africa, due to
the strengthening of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
and the imminent application of the United States’ Dodd-Frank Act. Yet
major disagreements between companies, governments and anti-corruption
activists emerged at the EITI’s biennial conference in Paris on 2-3
March, its biggest ever. Large oil companies, led by Royal Dutch Shell,
argue that any extension of the compulsory accountability provisions of
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act would
undermine voluntary agreements such as EITI (AC Vol 51 No
19).
European and African officials backed moves at the Paris conference to toughen laws on company payment disclosures, despite strong opposition from oil and mining companies, includi...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 11 |
- GHANA
- OIL AND GAS
- ASIA
Asia's big oil companies, backed by their governments, are outbidding their Western rivals
President John Evans Atta Mills, his government and
the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation are entertaining offers
for cooperation and a stake in the Jubilee oil field from all...
Indian and Chinese companies have joined the race for Uganda's oil assets in the Lake Albert Basin, where at least 2 billion barrels of oil have been discovered. Opportunities have...
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s government is trying to win support for its new oil law by offering Delta communities a stake in the business
The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s supporters are trying to steer through the National Assembly, is meeting massive opposition from the major ...
The differences seem to be narrowing between the presidency and the critical stakeholders: indigenous and international oil companies, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (...
The drama surrounding oil reserves on the Ugandan and Congolese sides of Lake Albert came to an end in April with London's Heritage Oil and Gas and Ireland's Tullow Oil still the m...
Vol 49 No 8 |
- OIL AND GAS
The hundred-dollar barrel has boosted both Africa's national oil companies and ambitious resource nationalists. Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Nigeria see their national oil companies as potential instruments of diplomatic and economic power - as long as the oil and gas markets favour the sellers. Africa's oil producers want more control and money from contracts, and they want more oil to be refined locally.
Present performance varies widely in quality. Nigeria (see Box) has the biggest reserves and a poor record. Its government plans to introduce new rules stipulating that internation...
Congo-Kinshasa and Uganda still disagree about their shared border, but the scraps in which soldiers and civilians were killed on Lake Albert late last year have faded away, and co...
President Umaru Yar'Adua has launched a thorough restructuring of the state-owned energy sector and a review of commercial contracts. His reform team hopes to bring in partners lik...
Africa-Asia Confidential maps Asia's involvement in Africa's oil sector