Resource information
Proper stewardship of revenue from the
oil, gas, and mining industries has tremendous potential to
lift people out of poverty and contribute to sustainable
development. These industries create jobs directly and
indirectly, transfer technologies and knowledge, and
generate significant income. These benefits provide
governments with a financial base for infrastructure
development and social service delivery. The extractive
industries, and the petroleum sector in particular, are
known for generating high economic rent the difference
between the value and cost of production and the
government's share of this rent can be very large in
times of high commodity prices, as in the last several
years. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
(EITI) seeks to help resource-rich countries maximize the
development gains from the exploitation of their oil, gas,
and mineral resources by encouraging greater EI revenue
transparency. Through the verification and full publication
of payments made by companies and revenues from oil, gas,
and mining received by governments, the EITI helps to
safeguard against corruption and provides a powerful
illustration of voluntary engagement of governments,
industry, civil society and other stakeholders to establish
a locally implemented global standard. This paper describes
steps to improve EI revenue management, transparency, and
accountability at each link of the value chain.
