Recent Articles

This summer the International Financial Coporation posted payment figures online for some, though not all, of its extractive industry clients. The IFC is the private sector arm of the World Bank, offering guidance to investors as well as co-financing for projects.
News Article ~ 25 August 2008
In commentary in the Financial Times, Yahia Said calls for transparency in the negotiation of controversial Iraqi oil contracts, and help from international institutions as Iraq rebuilds its oil sector, its hobbled bureaucracy and trust between government and the citizens who stand to benefit in an improved Iraqi economy.
News Article ~ 23 July 2008
Revenue Watch funder the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation profiles RWI's programs, philosophy and approach in their recent newsletter, including ongoing work in Ghana and Mongolia, among other efforts.
News Article ~ 23 May 2008

In a recent letter to the national energy ministry, the civil society groups leading Peru's EITI project called for government support and action on disclosure of extractive industry payments on a company-by-company basis, a core requirement of Peru's EITI action plan.

News Article ~ 19 May 2008
In its newest Extractive Industries Monitoring Report (Vigilancia de las Industrias Extractivas), Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana compiles and analyzes all 2007 data from Peru relating to mineral, oil and gas production, taxes, royalties and other rent payments. The report also examines rent distribution between central and sub-national governments, and the ways that states are using these resources. This is the seventh extractive industries report from Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana (GPC), a network of Peruvian NGOs focused on decentralization, with an emphasis on civil society participation, technical assistance and sub-national capacity development.
News Article ~ 24 April 2008
Iraq expert Yahia Said of the Revenue Watch Institute today warned that Iraq's development depends on the creation of a political dialogue that includes all Iraqis, and on the timely resolution of the country's oil law conflicts. "Nowhere is the gridlock caused by sectarian politics more evident than in the discussion of Iraq's oil legislation," explained Said, Revenue Watch Institute director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Press Release ~ 7 April 2008
This week, two senior U.S. Senators expressed alarm at the lack of reconstruction spending and fiscal transparency in Iraq, and called for an investigation by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) into how Iraq manages its oil revenues. Despite the reductions in Iraqi violence since the U.S. military "surge," the rebuilding process and the associated spending have lagged. Revenue Watch and other experts are citing a range of obstacles to easy improvements and better reporting of both revenues and expenditures.
News Article ~ 14 March 2008
As the UN Convention against Corruption meets in Bali, the Revenue Watch Institute and Publish What You Pay-Indonesia call on the members gathered from 140 states to recognize the urgent and particular need to eliminate corruption in countries rich in oil, gas and minerals.
Press Release ~ 29 January 2008
On the one year anniversary of the U.S. military surge, community leaders in Iraq have begun to rebuild, but enduring changes such as an equitable oil law, or clean water, will be unreachable as long as growth depends on the factional leaders walled off in Baghdad's Green Zone. In the International Herald Tribune, RWI's Yahia Said explains the urgent need for fair elections and political power-sharing.
News Article ~ 7 January 2008
Latest report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies assessing the U.S. Defense Departments latest report on Iraq. The CSIS report cites "strong indicators that the glass has gone from one that was mostly empty to one that is at least half full," but adds that the military assessment "scarcely describes a stable or secure Iraq and it indicates that the Iraq War still presents a high risk of failure."
News Article ~ 20 December 2007
In October, the House Financial Services Committee recently held its first-ever hearing on extractive industry transparency. Witnesses included Ian Gary from Oxfam America and Father Patrick Lafon from the Catholic Church in Cameroon, both members of the Publish What You Pay Coalition. Read the PWYP report and learn more about the momentum for country-by-country reporting of U.S. natural resource revenue payments.
News Article ~ 26 November 2007
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, oilmen and representatives of the world's leading nations flocked to the Caspian region seeking a share of the massive oil reserves at stake, and a tense geo-political struggle began. In November, the Revenue Watch Institute and OSI hosted author and journalist Steve LeVine, whose new book The Oil and the Glory gives an account of this latest phase in the epochal struggle for resource wealth.
News Article ~ 12 November 2007
How do you promote fiscal transparency in resource-rich countries? A number of policy making institutions and non-governmental organizations have long sought to address this vexing issue. The International Monetary Fund has recently provided a valuable tool for assessing practices of resource revenue transparency by publishing the revised version of the Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency. Since its first publication in 2005, the Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency has become a major reference source for civil society organizations and governments in resource abundant countries.
News Article ~ 10 November 2007
Southern Africa Resource Watch has released five new reports as part of their Resource Insight series on mineral extractions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
News Article ~ 17 September 2007
Report on Iraq's economic situation, the effects of deteriorations in security, and progress on strengthening macroeconomic and structural reforms, based on IMF meetings with Iraqi officials and analysis by the IMF staff and Executive Board.
News Article ~ 15 August 2007
An analysis of Iraq's Federal Oil and Gas Law, Federal Financial Resources Law, relevant constitutional articles and proposed amendments by the Constitutional Review Committee and the Kurdistan Region Oil and Gas Law and Model Contract
News Article ~ 18 July 2007
Draft of Iraqi Hydrocarbon Law submitted to Parliament on February 15th, 2007, from Kurdistan Regional Government website. Read expert commentary from Tariq Shafiq, Fadhil Al-Chalabi, Malik Dohan Al-Hasan, Nabil Marsoomi, Joseph C. Bell, Hogan & Hartson LLP, and Professor Cheryl Saunders and others.
News Article ~ 15 February 2007
Though the U.S. government receives industry payments for resources extracted from public lands, it does not require that companies disclose these payments to the public, contrary to an emerging international standard of transparency and accountability. In a column in The New York Times, RWI Director Karin Lissakers describes the low standards in many areas of U.S. revenue management for the oil and mining sectors, and the unfavorable comparisons with states like Nigeria, where stronger disclosure practices are observed.
News Article ~ 23 January 2007
Ernst & Young's summary of findings for the period ending December 31, 2006, from the International Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq (IAMB).
News Article ~ 14 January 2007
In June 2006, the Open Society Institute spun off its Revenue Watch program to create an independent Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), a sister organization to coordinate and lead the Soros Foundation Network's (SFN) work on transparency and accountability in resource-rich countries.
News Article ~ 30 June 2006
Iraq's new Constitution has transferred managerial responsibility for new oil operations to the regions and provinces, and allowed them to take part in the production operations management of current fields. It has thus become necessary to accurately determine the geographical distribution of hydrocarbon wealth.
News Article ~ 27 May 2006
Experts on the oil industry sent this open letter to Iraq's National Assembly and future House of Representatives, raising questions about the new constitution's handling of oil revenues.
News Article ~ 18 October 2005
Democracy in Iraq hinges on a comprehensive and transparent approach to the management of its resource wealth, says a group of Iraqi and international stakeholders who met to carve out a strategy for the future of Iraqi oil.
News Article ~ 31 July 2005
Senior Iraqi officials gathered today with oil company representatives and international civil society leaders to carve out a plan for managing Iraq's oil wealth that will aid the country's democratic transition and economic reconstruction.
Press Release ~ 1 July 2005

Iraq's future peace and security depend on instituting constitutional safeguards that guarantee financial accountability and the equitable division of oil revenues, says a report by Iraq Revenue Watch, a project of the Open Society Institute.

News Article ~ 26 May 2005