Recent Articles

At the World Bank/IMF CSO Forum, Professor Paul Collier discussed his new book, Plundered Nations, on a panel with RWI staff.

News Article ~ 15 September 2011
RWI and its partners examine developments in the oil, gas and mining industries.
News Article ~ 9 August 2011
Norway's management model for oil, gas could complicate reform in some other countries.
News Article ~ 1 August 2011
The nation's natural resource management is improving, but challenges to oversight and efficiency remain.
News Article ~ 25 July 2011
At the region’s top mining conference, governments worked to shore up regional investment.
News Article ~ 7 July 2011
The first issue of “View Point” focuses on changes in contract practices.
News Article ~ 6 July 2011
Journalists Ken Silverstein and Andrew Feinstein joined RWI in May for a discussion on oil and arms middlemen.
News Article ~ 21 June 2011

Investigative journalist Nick Shaxson has spent much of his career covering the economies and politics of oil-rich African countries, research that led to his 2007 book Poisoned Wells. His new book, Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World, explores a topic Shaxson says was the logical conclusion of following oil money. He spoke with Revenue Watch this April.

News Article ~ 9 May 2011
RWI Deputy Director Antoine Heuty discusses the role of resources in the current Middle East revolts.
News Article ~ 7 April 2011
Deborah Brautigam, author of The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, spoke with RWI about China's development and business interests in Africa. 
News Article ~ 28 March 2011
In recent months, the governments of Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile decided to reduce or eliminate gasoline subsidies for the domestic market. The programs, meant to combat petroleum shortages, have imposed unwieldy costs on national governments and created a disincentive for private investment. The experiences of these three countries demonstrate how the debate has played out in the region.
News Article ~ 15 March 2011
In the latest of an ongoing series of investigations of oil and mining companies' activities abroad, the Danish organization DanWatch has released a report on the involvement of Danish companies in the Angolan oil sector. The report examines the activities of Maersk Oil in an environment in which corruption has become the norm and local populations reap little benefit from their country’s vast oil wealth.
News Article ~ 7 March 2011
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. In the February 31 issue, Peru's government deals a blow to illegal mining; Ecuador debates a "prepayment" oil deal with China; and Mexico's PEMEX proposes reducing exports to revive the struggling company.
News Article ~ 28 February 2011

FAQ: Why should companies focus on transparency?

News Article ~ 28 February 2011
View payments and receipts, read RWI analysis and compare more than 50 EITI reports.
News Article ~ 27 February 2011
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. In the February 15 issue, Latin American countries change their mining legal frameworks, Peru considers a windfall profits tax, and rising international petroleum prices impact Latin America.
News Article ~ 15 February 2011
The Revenue Watch Institute seeks legal and economic consultants for a variety of short- and medium-term assignments.
News Article ~ 3 February 2011
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. In the January issue, Ecuador’s government culminates contract renegotiation with oil companies; Colombia and Venezuela expect to increase hydrocarbons production; and windfall profit taxes become an issue in Peru’s electoral campaign.
News Article ~ 31 January 2011
On January 12, the World Bank Group published a report detailing its extractive industries work over the past year and outlining the Bank's goals for the sector and its plans to support sustainable resource development. The report offers encouraging signs of progress for the transparency movement and for efforts by Revenue Watch and its allies in the U.S. and internationally.
News Article ~ 24 January 2011
Illegal oil bunkering, or the theft of crude oil, is a persistent and costly problem in Nigeria, and has grown over decades into a thriving underground economy. In a brief released this October, Revenue Watch Nigeria Program Coordinator Dauda Garuba studies the prominence of illegal oil bunkering in Nigeria in light of the economic crisis the country faced during the 1980s, and the unsuccessful reforms that followed.
News Article ~ 9 December 2010
Integrity Watch Afghanistan founder Lorenzo Delesgues spoke at OSI about citizens' social accountability efforts.
News Article ~ 9 December 2010
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. In the November issue, Ecuador completes its oil contract renegotiations; PEMEX allows private exploration and production; and Peru seeks to amend hydroelectric concession process in the Amazon.
News Article ~ 30 November 2010
On October 14, more than a dozen journalists from Cameroon and other countries met with the Revenue Watch Institute and Transparency International in Yaoundé to discuss the findings of the Revenue Watch Index, the first comparative measure of government disclosure about the oil, gas and mining industries in 41 resource-rich countries.
News Article ~ 29 November 2010
In October RWI and Transparency International launched a pioneering measurement of government disclosure in the management of oil, gas, and minerals. Together with the International Budget Partnership's Open Budget Survey 2010, the Revenue Watch Index offers a complementary overview of transparency levels across countries.
News Article ~ 17 November 2010
In September 2010, economist Edwin Truman published a book on Sovereign Wealth Funds—the range of reserve funds often used by resource rich countries investing revenues internationally. Sovereign Wealth Funds: Threat or Salvation, assesses some of the regulatory concerns and international tensions over these funds. Truman says SWFs have "matured under the glare of international attention." He talked with Revenue Watch about his research.
News Article ~ 12 November 2010