Doha: Qatar Petroleum (QP) has improved its performance in the Resource Governance Index (RGI) of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). The Index measures the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining sector of different countries.
“After joint engagement with QP, NRGI conducted a 2020 interim assessment of QP’s Resource Governance Index (RGI) scores, which indicated an improvement from 55 to 65 points of 100, and from the weak to the satisfactory performance band,” noted NRGI in its latest briefing.
“QP’s interim assessment indicates movement in the right direction and provides input into QP’s roadmap towards further disclosures,” it added.
In 2019, Qatar Petroleum had officially joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as a supporting company in 2019. It became the first national oil company in the Middle East to join this multi-stakeholder organisation that promotes open and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources. Companies in EITI have performed well in the RGI.
QP is the first state-owned enterprise (SOE) from the MENA region to join the EITI as a supporting company. EITI is a multi-stakeholder organisation that promotes open and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources.
“QP is on par with other SOEs in the region in terms of transparency. In some areas, it is ahead of existing standards,” said the report. “QP can continue to pioneer in transparency by providing further reporting in line with the broader set of disclosures outlined in the EITI Standard, the Resource Governance Index and other guidance,” added the report.
Talking about the key takeaways from the QP’s engagement with EITI, the report said that QP and other pioneering SOEs can share their first-hand experiences of why transparency matters and how it has gone about enhancing it in a particular context. For the EITI, engagement with QP has been an opportunity to reach beyond implementing countries and have a direct impact on companies.
“The engagement sets a pioneering example of lesson-sharing between independent organizations and SOEs beyond implementing countries. QP has welcomed the EITI, NRGI and other standards’ independent and fact-based advice. As a result, QP’s disclosures have improved, which supports its business strategy,” said the report. “QP’s engagement with the EITI International Secretariat has helped the company to identify and prioritize relevant disclosures. Simultaneously, it has helped EITI to identify weaknesses in the process and content expectations for EITI supporting companies,” noted the report by NRGI. The report noted that QP can share its experience of becoming an EITI supporting company and engaging with other stakeholders.
This can improve the EITI’s process of onboarding supporting companies and, more generally, inspire other SOEs to embark on a journey of transparency and engage with similar institutions.
Despite their importance for government revenues and the economy, according to the 2017 Resource Governance Index (RGI), SOEs in the MENA region lag behind other countries in governance, transparency and accountability, achieving an average score of 42 of 100 compared to the average score of 50 of other regions.
