March 2017 News and Analysis from NRGI

News from NRGI
30 March 2017

Highlights

EITI Project-Level Reporting Requirement and the Suspension of Azerbaijan
By agreeing to implement project-level reporting from 2018 and suspending Azerbaijan due to its failure to protect civic space at a meeting of its international board, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative took important steps toward maintaining its leadership as a global standard in the extractives sector. (Azerbaijan subsequently withdrew from EITI.) Learn more from this Financial Times opinion piece by NRGI president and CEO Daniel Kaufmann.

The Challenge of Adding Value in Tanzania’s Mining Sector
While there are potential benefits to increased value addition in Tanzania’s minerals sector, the current policy may or may not achieve the intended impact. There are a number of factors that government officials should consider as they plan implementation of this policy.

Video

OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum: Opening Remarks

Earlier today in Paris, NRGI's Daniel Kaufmann, representing an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) high-level advisory group, presented OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría with recommendations for fighting corruption. (Watch Kaufmann's remarks here.)

Spotlight on contract transparency

Past the Tipping Point? Contract Disclosure within EITI

Four years after EITI began encouraging contract disclosure through its standard, this report assesses the extent to which governments of resource-rich countries have taken up the recommendation. The report finds that disclosing the contracts and licenses that detail terms of resource exploitation has become the norm among EITI implementing countries.

Comparing Resource Contracts Just Got a Lot Easier
Almost one third of the 1,450 contracts on ResourceContracts, an online repository of publicly available investment contracts, feature annotations that provide plain-language summaries of each contract’s key environmental, social, fiscal and operational provisions.

Tangible Contract Disclosure Progress in the DRC
NRGI and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment partnered with the Ministry of Mines and Cellule Technique de Coordination et de Planification Minière to develop a ResourceContracts country website that would provide a publicly accessible open data platform of mining and hydrocarbon contracts with associated documents.

Tunisia Contracts Site Enhances Local Extractives Data Analysis
The country's Ministry of Industry, Energy, Mines and Renewable Energies collaborated with NRGI and CCSI to implement a ResourceContracts site, responding to civil society demand. Launched in October 2016, it provides an open data platform for disclosed extractive contracts.

Publications

Securing Fair Value from Nigeria’s DSDP Contracts
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is about to allocate several hundred thousand barrels per day of the country’s oil to new “direct sale of crude oil and direct purchase of products” contracts with private companies.

Funding Ghana's ‘Free’ Senior High School with Oil Revenue: Sober Reflection Required
This briefing sheds light on various options that the Ghanaian government would consider in funding “Free Senior High School” with petroleum revenues, with a particular emphasis on funding sustainability.

Blog

Message from NRGI President & CEO Daniel Kaufmann
Far from business as usual, this year has seen swift and critical changes in the movement for accountable and open natural resource governance. Political developments have brought the fight for transparency and accountability out into the open, drawing attention from the international media and impartial observers.

How One DRC Community Engaged with Multinational Miners

As the Democratic Republic of Congo mining sector was liberalized over the past decade, private capital flooded in. Understanding the complex sector and the roles diverse stakeholders would play in it became a pressing need. L’Action pour la Défense des Droits Humains (ADDH), or Action for the Defense of Human Rights, was born out of developing a local response to the influx of foreign investment.

Four Steps Toward Stronger Women’s Voices in Extractives Governance
Mechanisms like EITI can be better harnessed to empower women’s voices in resource governance.

Latin American Extractives Forum Highlights Civil Society Importance, Key Trends
What’s next for Latin American civil society as the supercycle of high commodity prices recedes in the rear-view mirror? And what are the most interesting trends in the extractives sector in the region?

Uganda Oil and Gas Management Regime Implementation Starts on Wrong Foot
Even before production—expected to commence around 2020 at the earliest—a report indicates Uganda has received about USD 693 million in oil revenues. Uganda has at least three years to establish foundations for effective petroleum revenue management.

Mongolia’s Crisis Averted—For Now
Are reforms tied to the IMF bailout of mining-dependent Mongolia right for the country? A macro-fiscal model could help determine the answer.

Tunisia’s Draft Law on Parliamentary Approval of Oil Contracts: Missed Transparency Opportunity?
Since the Tunisian revolution, governance of Tunisia’s oil, gas and mining sectors has morphed from a taboo subject to the heart of reform discussions, including those around the 2014 constitution. A new law on parliamentary approval of natural resource contracts is an opportunity in the right direction.

Sicomines Deal Offers Four Clear Resource-for-Infrastructure Lessons
As the largest resource-for-infrastructure deal ever reached at the time of its signature, the Sicomines case has generated much controversy in Kinshasa, Beijing, and Western capitals alike. It is so large in scale that its value exceeded the Congolese state budget the year it was signed.

Azerbaijan Training Underscores Obstacles to, Opportunities for Open Government Gains
In the five years since the Open Government Partnership launched, more governments have committed to the initiative in Eurasia, a region both promising and challenging for the partnership.

Mining Indaba 2017: Steps Toward a Sustainable Future?
Last year’s edition of this global mining conference was overshadowed by pessimism in the wake of tumbling commodity prices and organizers tried to boost morale by encouraging participants to look “beyond the cycle.” But this year the buzz word for multilaterals was sustainability.