Increase public disclosure of oil data - Chatham House Urges

Increase public disclosure of oil data – Chatham House Urges

Apr 08, 2019 News

Considering the fact that the release of accurate information on the petroleum sector to the citizenry is central to ensuring transparency and accountability, Chatham House is calling on the governments of emerging oil producers like Guyana to increase public disclosure of oil data.
Chatham House is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to analyze and promote the understanding of major international issues and current affairs.
The UK-based entity said that transparency removes the cover for possible corruption, builds trust, enables good decisions and allows for rapid intervention to correct problems in the system. It stressed that there is a large body of literature, which supports this viewpoint.
Speaking to the steps governments can take to increase accountability, Chatham House said that one option is to invest in institutional capacity-building to create stronger checks and balances. The transparency body said, “Whatever the existing governance model for the petroleum sector, accountability can be bolstered by increasing the capability of existing actors in the system to ask the right questions of those with responsibilities in the sector. Capacity-building reduces the knowledge asymmetry between the operators and decision-makers on the one hand and stakeholders on the other.”
Further to this, Chatham House said that the government must make efforts to increase levels of accountability to the public. It said that various drivers can trigger the need to improve accountability processes in the petroleum sector; with one of the most significant triggers being the beginning of the production phase, which brings significant revenues.
Chatham House said, “Reforms aimed at improving accountability are likely to be opposed if they upset entrenched interests. Indeed, it is important for governments to recognize that once an actor (specifically, the National Oil Company or the Ministry of Energy) has assumed responsibility for some of these regulatory functions, it can be difficult to take it back.”
The entity continued, “Emerging producers do not necessarily need to set a ‘final’ institutional structure from day one. Emerging producers should follow a phased approach and make incremental changes, structuring their reforms as a continual evolution. To facilitate the forward planning for the next phase of petroleum-sector governance, a credible, legitimate group should be tasked with directing the pace and shape of incremental reform.”
The non-governmental organization added, “Producers at an early stage of development of their resource base should start by establishing one credible body to manage all aspects of the sector. Over time, they should introduce checks and balances, while building up capacity in other branches of government.”
Chatham House also stated that governments should immediately introduce key mechanisms for public accountability, including audits of agencies and state-owned companies and regular disclosure of information to the public.

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