Recent Articles

The global movement for accountable natural resource management gained ground today as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) resolved questions over the status of 18 countries that had missed a key deadline in the voluntary program. At a meeting in Berlin, Germany, the EITI International Board decided on limited extensions for 16 countries to complete their reporting and validation processes, including Kazakhstan, Timor Leste and Ghana.
Press Release ~ 16 April 2010
Revenue Watch joins Amnesty International in calling for an immediate investigation into the illegal assault and detention of three Nigerian civil society activists by police on April 5. Three activists from the nonprofit group Social Action, which promotes citizen participation in the management of resource extraction, trade and investment that affect human rights, democracy and livelihoods, were violently stopped and arrested without explanation by police as they left their office.
News Article ~ 13 April 2010
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) took important steps on April 6 to improve reporting and disclosure by the oil, gas and mining industries. But extractive industry experts said the proposals have been weakened by pressure from companies and have yet to clearly recommend reporting of the full information that investors and citizens need.
Press Release ~ 8 April 2010
In late February, United Kingdom MP Chris Mullin of the Labour Party introduced an early day motion in Parliament urging the government to consider adopting legislation requiring extractive companies to fully disclose revenue payments to governments. A joint letter from six civil society groups exhorted MPs to "assist the struggle against corruption in the oil, gas and mining industries of the world" by supporting the measure, which could also go far in encouraging the US Congress to pass its Energy Security Through Transparency Act.
News Article ~ 7 April 2010
On February 18, Stanford University's Mark Thurber delivered a research paper co-written with Revenue Watch Legal Analyst Patrick Heller and David Hults, also of Stanford University, to the 2010 International Studies Association Conference. The paper, "The Limits of Institutional Design in Oil Sector Governance: Exporting the Norwegian Model," published by Stanford's Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, studied eight resource-rich countries to explore the obstacles to exporting Norway's lauded model of resource management to other nations.
News Article ~ 29 March 2010
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. In issue March 9, Argentina and Bolivia revisit their gas supply contract; Chile's earthquake impacts the mining and energy sectors; and oil and gas production trends shift in Colombia and Venezuela.
News Article ~ 9 March 2010
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. Issue February 22 covers tension between Argentina and Britain over oil exploration off the Falkland Islands; production problems in Ecuador's and Mexico's state-owned oil companies; and Chilean interest in Bolivian gas industrialization.
News Article ~ 22 February 2010
This year, Tanzania's government is preparing new mining legislation for introduction in Parliament that would establish a new fiscal regime and legal framework to enhance the contribution of the country's mining sector. For the past ten years of implementation of the mining policy and law, the contributions of the mineral sector to the GDP reached only 2.7% despite becoming a top export earner. The discrepancy has caused mounting public concern for policy, fiscal and legal reforms to increase the sector’s contribution to the national economy. In light of these ongoing reforms in the Tanzanian mining sector, the nation’s Parliament, civil society organizations and members of the media sought expert support from the Revenue Watch Institute to increase their capacity to effectively scrutinize and deliberate on the proposed legislation.
News Article ~ 18 February 2010
The Revenue Watch Institute is pleased to sponsor an exhibition by photographer Ed Kashi at the HOST Gallery in London. On display from March 8 through April 3, the exhibit Curse of the Black Gold, documents the consequences of a half-century of oil exploration in a region that holds Africa's largest oil reserves, but offers a stark example of the perils of resource abundance. Kashi's images capture local leaders, militants, oil workers and villagers living in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
News Article ~ 18 February 2010
On February 2, the Revenue Watch Institute launched its new online Resource Center: an interactive database of research, training and policy documents and videos concerning transparency and the management of natural resource wealth. This tool, which compiles a comprehensive selection of research materials from around the world in multiple languages, represents a cross-section of expertise, analysis and good practice.
News Article ~ 18 February 2010
The mineral policies in Tanzania once called "new" are new no longer, and many of their objectives remain unattained. A decade ago, Tanzania embarked on mining sector reform, formulating a policy in 1997 and passing corresponding legislation 1998. The reform's main objective was to create an enabling environment for private investors in an industry that was previously state-controlled. Unfortunately, the goal of increasing the sector's contribution to national growth and poverty reduction has proven to be far-fetched. New reforms are underway, but the question remains, what really went wrong?
News Article ~ 16 February 2010
Washington, D.C.—As Senate investigators announced details of oil profiteering schemes among foreign officials, leading U.S. and international experts renewed their call for passage of legislation drafted to protect U.S. energy security and block acts of corruption that circumvent existing anti-corruption rules.
Press Release ~ 8 February 2010
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. Issue February 3 covers new capital for Chile's Codelco; possible lithium investments in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina; and new oil projects in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt.
News Article ~ 3 February 2010
As Tanzania works toward validation as an EITI country, local members of civil society, the media and a parliamentary representative gathered in Dar es Salaam for a series of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) training and strategy sessions organized by the Revenue Watch Institute, in collaboration with the Policy Forum of Tanzania and with logistical support from Norwegian Church Aid—Tanzania office. The first event was an informal training and coordination session held on January 20 for the civil society members of the Tanzania EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG)
News Article ~ 26 January 2010
RWI partner Oxfam America has created a two-minute animated short, "Follow the money," to help support the Energy Security Through Transparency Act. "Follow the money" demonstrates the consequences of buying gas every day: where the money goes, and why citizens in oil-producing nations often don't see the profits when U.S. gas prices soar.
News Article ~ 22 January 2010
The Revenue Watch Institute congratulated Norwegian officials and transparency campaigners today as the nation's Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) issued its first report, publishing all payments of taxes and fees made by oil companies to the government in 2008.
Press Release ~ 21 January 2010
On BBC's "The World Tonight" program, RWI Africa Regional Coordinator Emmanuel Kuyole and Radhika Sarin of Publish What You Pay International discuss the challenges of responsible natural resource management and how citizens and leaders from Ghana to Ecuador are working to make the most of their resource wealth.
News Article ~ 19 January 2010
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. Issue January 19 covers rising fuel prices in Peru; Ecuador's broadening activity in the extractive sector; and Argentina's efforts to reach an agreement to increase gas imports from Bolivia.
News Article ~ 19 January 2010
The Revenue Watch Institute today congratulated the Government of Iraq as it formally announced that it would join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), taking a historic step toward the efficient and open management of its oil industry.
Press Release ~ 11 January 2010
Today’s brutal shooting attack on the Togolese football team traveling to the Africa Cup of Nations in the oil-rich Angolan province of Cabinda serves as a harsh reminder of the instability that often reigns in enclaves where tremendous oil wealth coexists with chronic underdevelopment.  A purported representative of Cabinda's militant separatist group the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) has claimed initial responsibility for the attack, declaring it "only the start of a series of targeted actions that will continue in all the territory of Cabinda," although few facts about the assailants are yet known.
News Article ~ 8 January 2010
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. Issue December 20 covers collective agreement negotiations in Chile and Venezuela; Colombia's move to position itself as a major player in the hydrocarbon sector; Brazilian state and municipal negotiations of Pre-sal revenue distribution; and possible sales of Ecopetrol shares to cover large-scale infrastructure investments in Colombia.
News Article ~ 20 December 2009
As Chinese companies build up their extractive activities in Africa, many are finding that the greatest challenge to operational success is weak or unreliable governance in the natural resource sector. In a new report co-funded by Revenue Watch and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, researchers at Stellenbosch University found that, though Chinese company officials were largely unfamiliar with transparency efforts like the EITI, most are interested in initiatives that hold the promise of an improved operating environment. 
News Article ~ 20 November 2009
On November 11, the Revenue Watch Institute hosted journalist Peter Maass, author of the new book Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil, for an afternoon conversation with RWI Director Karin Lissakers. Crude World is a reporter's foray into many of the countries that have come to represent the so-called "resource curse," such as Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan—countries where the discovery of mineral and hydrocarbon reserves has resulted not in greater prosperity, but rather in increased corruption, poverty and environmental degradation.
News Article ~ 16 November 2009
On September 30, Ukraine's cabinet announced that the country will implement the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) in cooperation with civil society and extractive companies. EITI Chairman Peter Eigen welcomed the news, saying, "Secure energy supplies depend on good governance and transparency. Through its commitment to the EITI, the Ukraine is demonstrating its willingness to play by the highest standards."
News Article ~ 12 November 2009
Carlos Monge, RWI Latin America Regional Coordinator, and colleagues deliver fresh news and insight. Issue November 10 covers state-owned oil companies and the oil price recovery; new natural gas reserves found in the Camisea area of Peru; and shortages and new trade relations for natural gas in Latin America.
News Article ~ 10 November 2009