With the ongoing oil crisis, the Ecuadorian State has develop new ways to get financing from exploration and exploitation of crude blocks in the Amazon; resulting in a new type of contract which has raised criticism for its legality. However, with the General State Budget depending mainly of that resource, it is important to describe … Continue reading “A new contractual model is used in the Ecuadorian oil & gas industry for the development of crude fields through private investment”

With last December’s Paris Agreement, the world community agreed on reducing the emission of greenhouse gases severely with the aim to limit global warming. What exactly is agreed on? And even more important from the WGEI perspective: how does it affect the extractive industries? (By Marcoen Roelofs & Jeroen Doornbos, Netherlands Court of Audit) After … Continue reading “What does the Paris Agreement mean for the future of the Extractive Industries”

Uganda is endowed with a variety of natural resources that include copper, cobalt, gold, tin, and most recently petroleum. This article will concentrate on audit of petroleum activities conducted by the international oil companies (IOCs). Ever since the first commercial discovery in 2006, exploration work in Uganda has increased to the point of having over … Continue reading “The Ugandan experience in the audit of petroleum activities.”

The EITI International Secretariat welcomes the opportunity to present the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the newsletter of INTOSAI’s Working Group on Audit of Extractive Industries (WGEI). This article provides a brief introduction to the EITI, the reporting process in the 49 implementing countries, and the common interests and opportunities for collaboration with Supreme … Continue reading “The case for collaboration between Supreme Audit Institutions and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)”

Over several decades and in step with the globalisation of the economy, world-wide intra-group trade has grown exponentially. Transfer pricing rules, which are used for tax purposes, are concerned with determining the conditions, including the price, for transactions within a Multinational Enterprise (MNE) group resulting in the allocation of profits to group companies in different … Continue reading “The OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project Has Delivered Stronger Transfer Pricing Rules”

(By Trygve Christiansen and Eli Wærum Rognerud, OAG Norway) (See full paper on the shale gas revolution, including policy, geopolitical and environmental effects here: link) Shale gas has been described as a “revolution”, our “bridge to a low carbon future” and indeed “the biggest thing that happened to America”, yet others have branded it an “environmental … Continue reading “The Shale Gas Boom – How Does It Affect Current And Aspiring Gas Producers?”

On 15 October 2015 the State audit office of Vietnam (SAV) launched a performance audit that aims to evaluate the environmental management and rehabilitation on mining industry in Thai Nguyen Province. The audit was performed as results of a survey that gathered initial information and data of environmental rehabilitation on mining industry in Thai Nguyen … Continue reading “SAI Vietnam: Evaluating the environmental management and rehabilitation on mining industry in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam”

The German Government through GIZ (Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit) is working on improving public financial management and good government in Africa. GIZ recognises the importance and value of developing SAI capacity and effective work with Parliaments, particularly in resource-rich African countries. In seeking to develop and share good practice, GIZ collaborated with seven African SAIs … Continue reading “GIZ Workshop: Enhancing SAI Capacity in Auditing the Extractive Industry Sector; Kampala 10-12 September 2015”

Cooperative audits have been carried out in INTOSAI with different objectives and methodologies. In most cases, they are tools to study and analyze policies of regional and international interest. More recently, the cooperative audits have also been used as part of a strategy for capacity development. Under the Organisation of Latin America and Caribbean Supreme … Continue reading “Coordinated EI audit in OLACEFs”

With the assistance of the GIZ Academy for International Co-operation, SAI representatives from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia gathered in Germany I June to exchange experience and build competence in audit of the extractive industries. Colleagues from SAI Brazil, SAI Estonia and the EITI secretariat in Oslo also contributed to the event, … Continue reading “Seven African SAIs gather for regional EI training”