October 2020 News and Analysis from NRGI

News from NRGI
31 October 2020

Highlights

A Race to the Bottom and Back to the Top: Taxing Oil and Gas During and After the Pandemic

This deck-format briefing (also in French and Spanish) considers the likely future price of oil, its impact on existing and future oil projects, and the prospect of a “race to the bottom” with governments making concessions to attract or retain investors. Read blog posts that contextualize this analysis in sub-Saharan Africa (also in French), Latin America (also in Spanish) and North Africa (also in Arabic).

Supporting the Energy Transition in Oil- and Mineral-rich Countries
Resource-rich countries have opportunities to build more resilient economies and support environmental sustainability. This note describes the key issues decision makers and citizens face in the energy transition, and the support that NRGI will offer them.

Blog

Risk and Reward in Ghana's Agyapa Gold Royalties Deal: Eight Points for Consideration

The proposed Agyapa gold royalty vehicle might be a creative solution to Ghana’s current economic constraints, but it is also fraught with risks.

Aucune excuse pour le recul dans la transparence de contrats extractifs en République Démocratique du Congo
The DRC has taken pioneering steps in extractives contract transparency in sub-Saharan Africa. But politics and the pandemic are no excuse for the reversal its government is now seeking, writes NRGI's Descartes Mponge Malasi in this French-language post.

Training Amid the Pandemic: Instilling Knowledge at a Distance
Staff from NRGI and Tanzanian partner REPOA share tips for capacity development based on this year's online Tanzania natural resource governance program.

Video

National Oil Companies: Roles, Governance and Risks in a Changing Future

In spite of the importance of national oil companies (NOCs), they have traditionally been poorly understood and prone to misgovernance. In this webinar, hosted by the Payne Institute, NRGI’s Patrick Heller presented recent work on NOCs, and the National Oil Company Database.

Minerales críticos en América Latina: panorama general
In the first of a series of Spanish-language events, experts discussed critical minerals in Andean countries, the governance challenges brought about by the pandemic, and the urgency of the energy transition.

Tackling Extractive Sector Corruption in Unstable Times
Yesterday Leila Kazemi of CCSI and NRGI's Alexandra Gillies discussed the recent evolution of the threat posed by corruption and explored politically astute approaches to fending it off. Gillies drew on her book Crude Intentions: How Oil Corruption Contaminates the World and Kazemi on a multi-year project to examine the political economy of extractive sector governance initiatives.

Publication

Mongolia: Updated Assessment of the Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Extractive Sector and Resource Governance

In the first half of 2020, Mongolia's gross domestic product shrank by 9.7 percent. The coronavirus pandemic and associated economic challenges have underscored concerns about the country's dependence on China and its high levels of debt.