Politiktoons No. 195: Sudan

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Sam Rainsy's interview on RFA on corruption in oil and gas exploration in Cambodia

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy

Click the control below to listen to the interview in Khmer:

Click here to listen to the interview in MP3

Cambodia's oil must not be the slippery slope to corruption and catastrophe

There is concern that the discovery of oil will cause damage to areas such as this beach near Sihanoukville in Kampong Som province. Photograph: Luca Picciau/Alamy

Tuesday 21 June 2011
By Julian Boys
guardian.co.uk

Cambodia must get a fair deal for its natural resources, and the revenues should go towards improving the lives of its people

Emerging from genocide and decades of civil war, Cambodia's discovery of oil raised hopes of faster development for the country – but also fears that the "resource curse" might strike again.

Oil production will come on line next year and local campaigners are racing to prevent Cambodia going the same way as countries such as Nigeria, where the industry has fuelled corruption and environmental catastrophe.

Things got off to a bad start, according to Global Witness. In 2009 it reported that oil exploration licences had been granted largely in secret, while the mining sites it investigated were all owned by the country's political and military elite. Since then, the public has not been consulted about the drafting of new laws governing extraction of natural resources.

Perhaps the lack of democratic values isn't surprising in a country where the prime minister has been in power for almost three decades. But despite the difficulties, grassroots organisations are pushing for Cambodia's oil to be managed in ways that allow citizens to see what the government does with the resulting revenues – and to hold it and oil companies accountable for their actions.

US seeks reports on resource acquisition

Monday, 19 July 2010
Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

A SWEEPING financial reform bill passed by the United States Senate last week will force US-listed oil, gas and mining companies to publicly divulge payments made to secure access to resources in foreign countries including Cambodia.

The provisions, passed on Thursday as part of the 2,300-page Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, will require the companies to disclose the payments to the US securities and exchange commission by 2012.

Companies will be obliged to report to the SEC the “type and total amount of such payments made for each project”, as well as “the type and total amount of such payments made to each government”.

These include “taxes, royalties, fees (including licence fees), production entitlements, bonuses, and other material benefits” relating to extractive industry revenues.

Cambodia is home to some publicly traded resource companies – including Chevron, Total, Petronas, Conoco-Phillips and Mitsui & Company Ltd – that would be required to publicise further payments made to secure oil-exploration rights or offshore oil concessions in the Kingdom under the newly passed legislation.

In April, Prime Minister Hun Sen revealed that French oil giant Total had paid US$28 million to secure offshore oil exploration rights in the Gulf of Thailand, prompting requests for further disclosures.

In a statement on Friday, Oxfam America applauded the new regulations, saying they would improve the transparency of public revenues in Cambodia.

“Public disclosure of revenues and how they flow from industry to government is fundamental to improving governance, helping any government’s efforts to prevent and curb corruption, and improve revenue management,” Mona Laczo, Oxfam America’s deputy regional director for East Asia, said in the statement.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, also welcomed the new bill, saying the issue of under-the-table payments had long been a concern in the extractive resources industry.

“It is a good thing for the US to pass a bill that forces companies to disclose all unofficial fees,” he said. “I think it will be far-reaching.”

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said he was not familiar with the new regulations, but reaffirmed the government would pursue resource revenue transparency “in the same spirit” as in its fight against corruption.

Watchdog Renews Call for Oil Transparency

Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington, D.C Wednesday, 02 June 2010

“We want to see this revenue being managed transparently and accountably so that Cambodian people and their future generations benefit equally.”

The US oil giant Chevron and the Cambodian government need to improve transparency in the management of oil revenue, a Cambodian watchdog said Monday.

“What we want to know is how this revenue from natural resources is being managed, because it is a new sector,” Mam Sambath, chairman of Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency, told “Hello VOA.” “We want to see this revenue being managed transparently and accountably so that Cambodian people and their future generations benefit equally.”

Mam Sambath, who attended Chevron’s annual meeting last week in Houston, Texas, to advocate for a payment disclosure policy, said greater transparency will work in the company’s interest.

“The disclosure will instead promote a good image of Chevron in a country it operates,” he said. “And it will also attract other highly responsible companies to follow suit and invest in that particular country.”

Cambodia insists it has been transparent in managing state revenue.

“We don’t have a problem [if a company makes their payment public],” Hang Chuon Naron, secretary-general of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, told VOA Khmer. “The prime minister has authorized us to do that, and we have been doing that all along.”

However, a caller from Banteay Meanchey province expressed skepticism in the government’s transparency efforts. Villagers are seldom fully informed of gold mining operations in the province, the caller, who gave his name as Ny, said.

Transparency advocates say Cambodia would do well to become a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, or EITI.

“On natural resources, the international community must push the government to be a member of EITI to ensure effectiveness in management of revenues and expenditure from mineral resources,” said Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party. “Sooner or later we will extract oil and gold, and revenue from this sector is gigantic. If we manage it properly we will be rich.”

Yim Sovann called for openness for input from the public, lawmakers and the international community for the drafting of a management law for natural resources currently underway.

Mam Sambath agrees.

“I strongly urge the government to consider becoming a member of EITI, so that we can better manage revenue from natural resources and help better manage our economy,” Mam Sambath said.

When Blessing Becomes a Curse in the Niger Delta [-Will this be the Tonle Sap's fate?]

Severely Scarred Source of Survival. With their children in tow, the women survey the destruction wrought by the massive oil spill that was followed by an uncontrollable fire. They used to fish in this part of the Oya Lake. Photo from Environmental Rights Action (ERA)
Gathering Force. Women who are situated at the Niger are becoming increasingly visible as popular and legal actions against oil companies mount. Photo from ERA.

By Betty Abah
Women in Action, No. 2, 2009

Click here to read the entire original article in PDF format

The other day I saw a supervisor of Wilbros, an oil servicing firm operating in the area. I asked him why they were not giving any jobs to the women. They had just given some casual jobs to a few boys. He looked at us and replied that indeed there were jobs for the women. I asked him, “What jobs?” He put his hands on his crotch and said “This is the job for the women.” —Madam Adeline Gilbert, Woman Leader

If injustice had not existed and natural blessings had been left unabused, Cilia Neberi would be one of the happiest and most comfortable women to grace the earth’s surface. But then, it is a world where the reverse is the case. With decades of oil-related anguish behind her, the middle-aged mother of four is now dead and gone.

Cilia lived in Ikarama, an oil-producing community in the Niger Delta where Shell and Agip carry out large-scale drilling activities. Like many women farmers in Ikarama, Cilia was the bread winner of her family. Like many other people too, she and her family were severely threatened by the oil spills. For several months, her house was like an island, surrounded by dark, slimy and nauseating substances from one of the ruptured pipes of Agip, an oil facility that is stationed right at the centre of her community.

A slim woman with an oak-like will, Cilia joined a group of women in the community to protest such environmental degradation by Agip’s unregulated and insensitive drilling activities. When their cries and pleas fell on deaf ears, Cilia and her husband devised a means of safe-guarding themselves, especially their four young children. In the morning they headed to her in-laws’ house and returned in the evenings to simply sleep the menace away.

But the menace caught up with Cilia, who eventually complained of body aches and nausea that left her unable to work. The family had no money that could have given her quality medical help on time. The Agip-sponsored clinic was also useless. Contrary to its press releases, the clinic was only inhabited by reptiles. Cilia was later taken to the General Hospital at Yenagoa but she succumbed in just a couple of weeks.

Cilia is just one of the several cases experienced throughout the Niger Delta where a natural endowment of oil has become a grievous curse. The communities constantly grapple with the consequences of oil spills, gas flares and other menaces arising from unregulated explorative activities of the international oil companies.

Many women in these subsistence communities bear the burdensome task of caring for their families, protecting them from harsh pollution. The rate of cases of cancer, infertility, leukemia, bronchitis, asthma, still-births, deformed babies and other pollution-related ailments are unusually high in this region. From Ikarama to Akaraolu to Imiringi, women are bruised and dying.

As one farmer, Marthy Berebo shared, “If I am to undress before you, you will see the extent of the toll this pollution has taken on my body. The whole of my body is racked with aches.” Charity Seiba, 66-year old mother of 10 also said, “The same oil companies that sustain this country are killing us. This is the pain with which we have to live.”

Ikarama, a predominantly fishing and farming community of 10,000 people, also ranks as one of the most polluted communities in the Niger Delta. Settled along Taylor Creek, Ikarama is host to both the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). Shell’s pipes that link the Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States all pass through Ikarama. Shell’s Okordia Manifold is also situated in Ikarama.

It is assumed that by hosting big international companies like Shell, communities flourish. But the contrary happens to Ikarama, as it finds itself in a deep and dark pool of poverty. The roads have yet to be paved, as promised by the company while the lives of people are becoming worse, with their livelihoods destroyed by the frequent oil spills.

Alili Ziah is a widow with seven children. Before, she could still provide for them through fishing but now that the water has been contaminated, her family has been forced to depend on other people’s charity. “Whenever I set traps and I go to inspect, they are soaked in crude oil,” she remarked.

Like Ikarama, Imiringi has been hosting several of Shell’s gas flaring sites since 1972. The health implications arising from the open, poisonous flames are enormous. People who live nearby complain of rashes on the skin, redness of the eyes and other complications. Contamination is quite likely since women usually dry their local staple, kpopko garri near these gas flaring sites. Women’s reproductive health has also been affected, as seen with the rising number of cases of infertility and birth deformities.

As noted by farmer Margaret Amos, “Since 1972, our crop yields have started depreciating. Then, as a young girl, I noticed that our crops such as cocoyam, cassava and plantain grew more luxuriantly and when we harvested them, we got bountiful yields. But all that is now history.”

Oil has been Nigeria’s lifeblood since the late 1950s, when Shell had its first successful oil well in Oloibiri in the Bayelsa State in 1956. Eighty per cent of the country’s wealth is derived from oil while 90 per cent of revenues come from oil-related businesses. About 50 per cent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP), 80 per cent of budgetary revenues and 95 per cent of foreign exchange earnings come from oil that is drilled at the Niger Delta.

Ten per cent of its crude oil is directed to the United States (US). According to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria is the eighth biggest exporter of petroleum in the world.

Shell is the most dominant and oldest players in the industry that also includes big names like Agip, Mobil, Chevron and ELF. In fact, it accounts for half of the total oil production in Nigeria. In both Bayelsa and Rivers states alone, Shell’s seismic lines cover 56,000 kilometres. The company has 7,000 kilometres of flow lines and 400 kilometres of pipelines. It has 349 drilling sites. At the height of its operations, Shell produced one million barrels of crude oil daily. This figure has been reduced with the attacks of militant groups in the last few years. But given the relative stability in this volatile region, there are prospects that the figure would once more increase.

Yet oil companies have very little to show in terms of its contributions to the communities’ development. In fact, they have merely subjected communities to more poverty and disease because of their unregulated means of polluting the land, water and air. In the Niger Delta alone, there are more than a hundred gas flare sites. It has been estimated that 13 per cent of the annual global gas flared or about 23 billion cubic meters out of 168 billion cubic meters come from Nigeria. It is said that with this unabated flaring, about US$15 million worth of gas is turned into smoke daily.

As Darlene Odonogu Samuel, a 46 year old mother of six children in Ikarama pointed out, “Shell agents, Agip agents, NGOs and other people have been coming here and making promises, but so far it has all come to nothing. Still, we have no good roads.”

Moreover between 1976 and 2001, the Nigerian government documented 6,817 spills, practically one a day for 25 years. Yet analysts suspect that the amount could even be 10 times higher.

With the huge money involved in this industry, it not surprising to see conflicts that claim the lives of over 1,000 people annually. Of the oil companies operating at the Niger Delta, Shell has been deemed as the most notorious as it sanctioned human rights abuses committed by security forces at its employ. Shell arms and pays government security personnel and outfits who are always quick to quell any signs of uprising and carry out wanton human rights abuses.

In all of these, women are the major victims, as widows and mothers. They have been the families’ pillars on whose shoulders many of sorrow and deprivation fall.

As Environmental Rights Action (ERAction) stated, “The oil and gas fields have not only witnessed massive crude oil spills and gas flares and explosions. We do know that due to high levels of human rights abuses, the oil fields are also knee-deep in blood.”

Conflicts emanating from the discontent and corruption around the oil industry indeed have a history. In the 1960s, the government fought hard to quell an uprising championed by a young Niger Deltan, Isaac Boro. Though this was suppressed and Boro was later conscripted into the Nigerian Army, only to be killed under questionable circumstances, there were many others who fell victims but whose struggles and fates were not well-documented.

The 1990s was one of the most tumultuous times in the Niger Delta. Writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa roused the consciousness of the nation and the international community over the environmental injustice in Ogoniland. Following the controversial killing of four chiefs who were sympathetic to oil multinationals by irate mob of village youths, Saro-Wiwa was arrested and hanged. Military operatives paid by Shell moved into the communities with amoured tanks, guns and various weapons, shooting and killing hundreds of people including women and children, mowing down entire villages, and maiming thousands.

Today, many women still carry these scars and live in deformed bodies. One of the survivors is Promise Yibari Maapie, who had her left arm permantly withered as a result of a gun shot. Her daughter Joy also sustained damaging gun shots on her legs. “The soldiers brought pain, sorrow and hunger into my life,” she told a reporter.

After the infamous Ogoni genocide, there have been several cases, including that of the Odi Massacre in 1999, where entire towns were razed down. It was a retaliatory move by the the government’s troops, arising from the killing of some military men by militants.

In mid 2009, massacres and bombings happened in several villages in the Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Niger Delta. In the process, many women were killed, wounded or displaced. There were reported cases of those who gave birth in the forests and creeks while running away from the military attack. As usual, there were reports of rape by the soldiers.

Women are the foremost victims in the Niger Delta tragedy. Apart from contending with gas flares and oil spills, they also live at the very edge of their lives. When rusty pipelines conveying crude oil burst, farmlands, forests, streams and rivers are damaged. Scores are also killed as in October 1998 when an oil pipeline explosion roasted around 2,000 people in Jesse Town in Ethiope, West Local Government Council of the Delta State. Worse, government interventions are nonexistent and when they exist at all, they are either belated or half-baked.

Besides this, constructions of gigantic drilling projects pollute and alter the communities’ water ways, depriving residents’ access to water. These impacts are felt most by women. Aside from being farmers, they also provide food and water for the family. As Stella Ogbel, a resident in Imiringi shared, “When we were young, we used to be happy whenever it was raining. Rain water was considered to be clean, fit for drinking. We don’t have that these days. When we collect the rain water from our roofs now, the whole surface would be covered with soot occasioned by the gas flare in our community.”

Despite the tragedy that their bodies bear, women have been rendered voiceless in many communities. In most communities, it takes the special intervention of civil society organisations (CSOs) for women to be allowed into the town hall consultative fora where issues affecting the communities are discussed. Men would always insist that the matters to be discussed are too serious for women.

In many cases, women cannot claim land ownership. Farmlands usually belong to husbands and fathers. The deaths of their husbands or divorce could spell the end of their stay in those lands. Thus, environmental disasters constitute a double tragedy for women.

Nonetheless, in some communities, women are organising themselves, attempting to take up their destinities into their own hands and undoing the malevolent strings of the retrogressive customs in some communities. Such bold attempts can be attributed to the intervention of CSOs and to a large extent, changing times.

For 16 years, the Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, the country’s foremost environmental justice civil society group, has engaged oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta region. It has held awareness-creating and advocacy skillbuilding workshops via town hall meetings and other fora. ERA has also monitored oil spills and other environmental disasters.

ERA also produces publications, newsletters, journals, books and other publications documenting instances of environmental degradation. On certain instances, these have drawn postive responses.

In collaboration with affected communities, ERA has lodged legal actions against Shell and other multinationals for many cases of environmental injustices. ERA has also taken
up the cases of affected communities to the court of international public opinion. It held a picket outside Shell’s headquarters in the Netherlands and presented cases against Chevron to the US Congress.

Aside from its engagement with women in Ikarama, Imiringi and Akaraolu, ERA is working with women in Iguobazuwa in Edo State whose rich rain forest has been forcibly annexed by the French tire-making multinational, Michelin, without prior consent, thereby destabilising many women farmers in the community.

Betty Abah is the Gender Focal Person of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, the country’s foremost environmental justice non-government organisation.

Sources:
Alagao, Morris. (2008). “Testimonies from Imirngi for ERA.” (copy text).
Bassey, Nnimmo. (2008). “The Future of Crude Oil is Already History,” presentation at Oilwatch General Assembly in September 2008 in South Africa.
ERAction. (2004). “Shell: A Corporate Terrorist at Work.” (No. 5, 2004).
DonPedro, Ibiba (2005). Out of a Bleak Landscape. Lagos, Foreword Communications Ltd.
Gbenro Olajuyigbe (2008). ABLAZE for Oil!: Studies on the Niger Delta Conflict. Nigeria: Action Aid.
Iyayi, Festus. (13 December 2006) “Political Economy of Oil and Gas Exploitation in Nigeria” In The Tribune.
Okonta, Ike. (2007) When Citizens Revolt: Nigerian Elites, Big Oil and the Ogoni Struggle for Self-determination. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc.

When Blessing Becomes a Curse in the Niger Delta (Addenda)

The Niger Delta

The Niger Delta region is a coastal community facing the Atlantic Ocean, forming approximately seven per cent of the country’s land mass. It covers five main states in the region namely Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Akwa-Ibom and Cross Rivers. The Delta has been inhabited by the Ijaw, Ogoni, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ikwere, Isoko, Andoni, Ndokwa, Kwale, Efik, Ibibio and Annag peoples. Since the successful discovery of an oil well in Oloibirin in 1956, the Delta has been eyed and explored by various multinational petroleum companies. The oil industry is responsible for over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s wealth. Despite such huge earnings, it is said that much of these proceed to only one per cent of the population. In addition to the environmental degradation and community displacement caused by the oil companies in the region, the corruption over oil revenues has been the source of various conflicts over the years.

Sources: ERA, Amnesty International (2009). “Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta.” URL: http://www.amnesty.org/en/
library/asset/AFR44/021/2009/en/3be47dff-af1f-4c8e-b7a6-960d229644f7/afr440212009en.pdf and Wikipedia (nd). “Niger Delta” URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_Delta and Urhobo Historical Society (nd). “Map of the Niger delta Showing Oil Fields and Pipelines.”
URL: http://www.waado.org/images/Maps/in_oildeltamap.gif

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Shelled Fishes

by Biobele Ademe

Fishing has been badly affected by the presence of the extractive industry in this community. In those days before Shell came to our land, when our parents bail their ponds, we used to get several buckets or baskets of fishes.

The story is different these days due to the slick of oil and other chemicals from the gas flare that has continued to pollute the ponds, swamps and creeks. Even the few fishes that we manage to catch often smell of crude oil.

In most cases, one will observe varying degrees of oil slick or other shiny matter on the surface of these ponds, burrow pits and even our creek, the Kolocreek.

We often notice that the oil companies sometimes allow their waste petroleum products and even crude oil that escape from their pipelines to flow freely into our creek. Due to the several construction works, these companies disturb the routes through which the fishes swim into our ponds. These fishes are now blocked by heavy heaps of mud.

Fishes find their way into the ponds during the rainy season and when the swamps are flooded. This is also their breeding period. We have studied these patterns over the years.

The various distortions on the topography by the oil companies have adversely affected us in many ways.

Yes, in those days we used to have up to ten or more buckets of fish when we bail the ponds. We left the ponds for two years before bailing. But these days, even if one leaves it for five years before bailing, one cannot get anything from the ponds. We are thus denied a veritable source of income. We now spend our hard earned money to buy imported frozen fish.

Apart from denying us of our fishing rights, we can no longer take a bath in the river. When one dives into the creek, one comes out with an an oily body.

We cannot even drink the water from the creek. Shell provided a borehole in our community but the water from the borehole is not fit for human consumption. When one fetches water and keeps it for a while, one will notice a thin silver-like colour over the surface and rusty sediments in the bucket.

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Flaring the Air

Although forbidden by national laws, the burning of unwanted gas continue with Nigeria contributing 23 billion cubic meters out of the 150 to 170 billion cubic meters of gas released in the atmosphere yearly. The latter amount is equivalent to the emissions of vehicles in the United Kingdom, France and Germany combined. Despite the 2005 Nigerian court injunction, Shell still flared 600 million cubic metres of gas in this country. In 2001, the amount it flared equaled to 40 per cent of gas consumption on the entire continent of Africa.

Source: John Donelly (2007). “Russia top offender in gas-flare emissions: US study uses satellite images for findings.” URL: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/06/21/russia_top_offender_in_gas_flare_emissions/ and Shelltruth.org (nd). “Gas Flaring-Nigeria.” URL: http://www.shelltruth.com/case1_e.html Photo from Shellguilty.com

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In 2008, the Royal Dutch Shell made a US$15.5 million settlement in a case filed by families whose members were murdered, tortured and harrassed by military forces that were protective of the company’s operations. One of the leading campaigners of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), poet and playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa group was hanged in 1995, along with eight other people from the Ogoni ethnic group.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell is Nigeria’s biggest oil operator, covering some 31,000 square kilometers. The company, under the name Shell D’Arcy was granted an exploration license in 1938 throughout Nigeria. After years of drilling, its first successful oil well was discovered in Oloibiri in 1956.

According to Amnesty International’s report, “Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta,” “Although SPDC operates within a delta system and oil infrastructure is frequently located close to farmland and waterways, few, if any, adequate protective measures have been taken by SPDC – pipelines have not been properly maintained and waste products have been released into the environment without adequate monitoring of the impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. Despite legal requirements to clean-up and remediate land and water swiftly and adequately, these actions frequently do not happen.”

Sources: Amnesty International (2009). “Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta.” URL: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR44/021/2009/en/3be47dff-af1f-4c8e-b7a6-960d229644f7/afr440212009en.pdf ; British Broadcasting Corporation (9 June 2009). “Shell settles Nigeria deaths case.” URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8090493.stm ; Shell Petroleum Development Company website. URL:http://www.shell.com/home/content/nigeria/about_shell/who_we_are/history/history.html

Slick money in Cambodia’s oil sector

Building blocks for exploitation
Already, most of the Kingdom has been divided by the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) into distinct areas and blocks. The only areas that remain undelineated are three regions on the western border with Thailand, in the far northwest, and east, stretching around block 24 near the Tonle Sap, which also has not been classified.

Cambodia’s new deal
The Japanese Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has signed a memorandum of understanding that officials said would lay the groundwork for a product-sharing contract (PSC) in Cambodian territory.

The deal was overseen by the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA). Details of the agreement, however, remain shrouded in secrecy.
Source: Cambodian National Petroleum Authority.
JON TURNER AND ELLIE DYER

Wednesday, 05 May 2010
Ellie Dyer and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Kingdom’s latest oil venture raises questions over funding, impact on the environment

THE financing of Cambodia’s newest oil deal remained undisclosed on Tuesday despite international and domestic calls for transparency in the Kingdom’s nascent extraction sector.

Regardless of the pomp and circumstance seen at a rare public signing of a study and survey agreement – made between the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) and the Cambodia National Petroleum Authority (CNPU) – questions about the scale of funding, investment and bonuses involved in domestic oil deals remained unanswered.

Such reticence came amid BHP Billiton’s internal investigation into accusations of graft, widely thought to relate to dealings surrounding a Cambodian concession, and pressure from international watchdog Global Witness for the issue to top a government donor meeting in June.

The need for transparency in the Kingdom has also been the subject of much domestic discussion in recent months as groups such as Cambodia’s NGO Forum call for accountability in the sector to ensure benefits from the extractive industries are spread throughout the country.

The issue has become especially crucial as activity in the sector is increasing, watchdog groups say. A CNPU press release issued Tuesday stated that Cambodia has recently experienced a spike in exploration activities.

At the signing ceremony, held in the Council of Ministers office in Phnom Penh, there were no indicators of the potential windfall to be gained from the extraction of natural resources in northern Cambodia’s Block 17.

“The details have yet to be figured out,” said JOGMEC’s Executive Vice President Fumiaki Fujita, when asked what initial funding would go towards a two-year geological survey of the 6,500-square-kilometre area. He sidestepped numerous questions about financing, saying it was too early to judge investment, adding only that “transparency is to be guaranteed” in later stages of extraction development.

"OBVIOUSLY, CAMBODIA SHOULD HAVE AUDITED ACCOUNTS SHOWING [PAYMENT] RECEIVED.”

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An also did not mention financing in his speech to around 100 suited dignitaries, instead stating: “On behalf of the government, I hope that JOGMEC efforts will encourage other Japanese companies to become leading businesses for oil and gas in Cambodia”.

A representative from CNPU refused to release any financial details of the deal when contacted by the Post on Tuesday, and JOGMEC officials confirmed only that “some kind of payment” would be made to the government if it seeks an extraction licence. They did not elaborate.

The reticence to disclose investment follows criticism by interest groups of the allegedly murky nature of Cambodia’s energy deals.

Global Witness called last week for extractive-sector transparency to be a subject of discussion at an upcoming meeting between the government and its donors.

Its statement followed Hun Sen’s confirmation last week that Total had agreed to pay the government US$28 million for offshore Block 3, of which $8 million would be dedicated to a “social development fund”.

The exact details of the Total investment have yet to become clear, but were likened by the prime minister to Cambodia’s deal with mining giant BHP Billiton – now internally investigating graft allegations over $2.5 million in unofficial fees paid to the Kingdom for a mining concession.

The reluctance of global corporations to release detailed information about their energy deals has taken on added significance, according to Global Witness.

The group said it believes that the JOGMEC deal, coupled with reports of increased testing by other potential investors at onshore sites, shows that Cambodia is more likely to possess onshore oil reserves than was previously thought.

But George Boden, spokesman for the watchdog, said that any oil deal centring on the Tonle Sap basin, parts of which have been designated as a protected area by UNESCO, had the potential to harm the environment and a “massive” number of livelihoods.

“There is no reason to believe there is a position to ensure oil extraction in the Tonle Sap region doesn’t have negative environmental consequences or is of benefit to the people,” Boden said.

“As a general rule, there is no reason that once a deal has been signed that companies shouldn’t be voicing payments made. Obviously, Cambodia should have audited accounts showing [payments] received,” Boden added Tuesday, speaking via phone from London.

JOGMEC’s Fujita responded Tuesday, saying that to his understanding the area under investigation does not fall within the protected zone.

He added that any seismic survey carried out by the company would include an environmental impact assessment.

Corporate openness regarding oil deals has, however, been hard to achieve.

Penelope Semavoine, a Total spokeswoman in Paris, told the Post on Monday that she was unable to disclose details of the energy firm’s revenue and taxation arrangement with the Cambodian government.

Nevertheless, after a year of relative quiet, the government is paying renewed attention to the sector. A CNPU press release, distributed at Tuesday’s meeting, stated: “Although today Cambodia has not yet commercially produced oil and gas, recently Cambodia has experienced an increase in exploration activities.”

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that PetroVietnam had paid money to the government after the signing of an exploration deal for onshore Block 15. Total is negotiating with the government for rights to onshore Block 26.

Hun Sen is also keeping up pressure on companies already operating concessions. Last month, he ordered Chevron – which owns a 30 percent stake in Block A, a 4,709-square-kilometre area in the Gulf of Thailand – to start producing oil by 2012 or face losing its permit.

And although JOGMEC has yet to discover whether its venture will be worthwhile, company officials remain hopeful for the future.

“At this stage it is difficult to say what the outcome [of a survey] is going to be for the area. But, with the knowledge we have regarding Vietnam and Thailand now, we have identified resources in this region which are supposed to be located close to the area,” Block 17, said JOGMEC’s Fujita.

According to the press release, JOGMEC was previously known as Japan National Oil Corporation, and performed an airborne gravity and magnetic survey in Cambodian onshore areas from 1997 to 1999.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Hye-Hor 5 Bora

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Total

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Scrutiny of exploration rights payments in Cambodia urged

Saturday, May 01, 2010
ABC Radio Australia

An environmental watchdog is urging Cambodia's donors to scrutinize multi-million-dollar payments by French oil company Total to secure the rights to explore an offshore area.

The call by the London-based Global Witness comes after Cambodia's premier Hun Sen announced a 28-million-dollar contract with Total on Tuesday.

Hun Sen says eight million dollars of that money would go towards a "social fund".

Earlier this week Hun Sen denied that Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton had paid a large bribe for an exploration contract, saying that money had also gone into a "social fund".

Total has won the right to search for oil and natural gas in Cambodia's offshore "Block 3" in the Gulf of Thailand.

Global Witness says questions regarding oil and mining payments made to the Cambodian government should top the bill at a meeting of aid donors in June.

Total confirms $8m social fund [-More tea money?]

Friday, 30 April 2010
James O'Toole
The Phnom Penh Post

FRENCH energy company Total confirmed Thursday that it paid the government US$28 million, including $8 million for a “social development programme”, to secure rights to drill for oil offshore in an area claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia.

Penelope Semavoine, a Total spokeswoman in Paris, said Thursday the company had signed the agreement in October with the Cambodia National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) to explore the 2,430-square-kilometre offshore block designated Area III. The company, she added, paid a $20 million signature bonus to the CNPA in January and is planning an $8 million social development fund.

Prime Minister Hun Sen referred to the Total deal in a speech at the Government-Private Sector Forum in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Rebutting media reports that mining giant BHP Billiton paid bribes to the Cambodian government, the premier said the firm had merely contributed to a social development fund. Total, he noted, “also paid this kind of money”.

Speculation has seized on Cambodia as the origin of an ongoing graft inquiry at BHP in part because of a $2.5 million payment to the government that the company said was for a social fund but that Minister of Water Resources Lim Kean Hor described in 2007 as “tea money”, or an unofficial fee.

Semavoine said Total’s $8 million social fund payment will be “administrated by committees that will include representatives from the CNPA and Total”.

“That will be a social development programme aimed at improving general health, education, culture, and welfare for the people of Cambodia,” she said. Exploration of Area III, she added, will not be undertaken until Cambodia and Thailand reach an agreement on their maritime boundaries.

A deal for the onshore Block 26, which covers an area of 22,050 square kilometres from Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border, is still under discussion, Semavoine said.

Total contract with Cambodia needs scrutiny: watchdog

Fri, 30 April 2010
AFP

An environmental watchdog Friday urged Cambodia's donors to scrutinize multi-million-dollar payments by French oil company Total to secure the rights to explore an offshore area.

London-based Global Witness called on donors to "ask some tough questions and get some answers" about petroleum concession revenues, after Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Tuesday announced a 28-million-dollar contract with Total.

"We welcome the prime minister's openness on this latest round of oil payments," Global Witness campaigner George Boden said in a statement.

"But we still don't know whether the money from Total has turned up in national accounts because the information has not been made public," he added.

Total has won the right to search for oil and natural gas in Cambodia's offshore "Block 3" in the Gulf of Thailand.

While disclosing the price paid by Total, Hun Sen on Tuesday said that eight million dollars of the money would go towards a "social fund".

Hun Sen also denied that Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton had paid a large bribe for an exploration contract in Cambodia, saying that money had also gone into a social fund.

Global Witness said "questions regarding oil and mining payments made to the Cambodian government should top the bill" at a meeting of aid donors in June.

Foreign aid to Cambodia will top one billion dollars in 2010 when international donors make their pledges during the June meeting, said a local media report citing Finance Minister Keat Chhon.

Following the discovery of oil in 2005, Cambodia was quickly feted as the region's next potential petro-state.

But concerns have also been raised over how Cambodia -- one of the world's most corrupt countries -- will use its new-found oil and gas wealth.

In a February 2009 report, Global Witness said earnings from oil, gas and minerals were being "jeopardised by high-level corruption, nepotism and patronage".

Cambodia Urged To Join Transparency Initiative

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
06 April 2010

International mining experts have called on Cambodia to join an organization to promote transparency in the extractive industries to help prevent a resource curse as it moves toward oil and mineral exploitation.

Under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, resource-rich countries work to ensure the revenue from their natural resources go toward improving the lives of its citizens.

“Now is the best time for Cambodia to actually join the EITI and prepare itself for those future revenue flows, since it is much more difficult to join the EITI once you already have extractive activities in place and huge revenues are flowing in,” Radhik Sarin, international coordinator of Publish What You Pay, said in an interview.

The appeal came during a three-day workshop among mineral experts from 15 countries in Phnom Penh to pave the way for a better mineral resource management and as Cambodia’s government says it could begin mineral resource extraction in the next two to five years.

“[EITI] is basically a tool for getting a clear understanding of all the financial resources to make sure that the revenue are properly spend for development issues,” said Sarin, who also serves on the board at EITI.

Cambodia expects to extract oil and gas in 2012 and mineral resources in 2015. The International Monetary Fund has estimated revenue of $172 million in the first stage of oil and gas extraction, with the amount increasing to $1.7 billion by 2021.

But experts worry that money could end up in the pockets of corrupt officials. Cambodia was listed as one of the most corrupt countries in 2009 by Transparency International.

Fabby Tumiwa, director of the Institute for Essential Service Reforms, which is based in Indonesia, said EITI could help.

“By implementing EITI, a country can avoid the resource curse,” he said. “So Cambodia has to avoid that scrape. EITI will help the country in their economic development, in particular investment in extractive industries, because investors will think that the risk of investment will be lower, [and it can help] reduce corruption and provide transparency on revenue management.”

To become a member of EITI, a country must publish on a regular basis all material from its oil, gas and mining payments and all revenues received from them, as well as performing independent audits and engaging civil society.

By implementing EITI, a country can improve its investment climate as well as promote greater economic and political stability, proponents of the initiative say.

Timor Leste, which produces 100,000 barrels of oil per day and receives an annual revenue of $1 billion, is an example.

“Before EITI, there is no information from governments and companies to us and to the public,” said Mericio Akara, director of the Luta Hamutuk institute. “We have no control of the budget. So 30 percent of the money was missing. But when we joined EITI, we controled every single revenue from the oil and gas sector.”

Indonesia, one of the largest oil producers in Southeast Asia with a total of annual revenue of $20 billion, is now applying to become a member of EITI.

“We’ve already produced oil and mining for more than 20 years,” said Muhammed Husen, deputy coordinating minister at Indonesia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs for Energy, Mineral Resources and Forestry. “Finally now our production is already half less than 20 years ago, but we have nothing. That is our mistake, because…corruption ocurred in all sectors.”

“EITI is one of the tools to attract more investors to come to Indonesia and learn how to manage the money,” Husen told VOA Khmer in an interview. “By learning from Indonesia, Cambodia should try its best to become an EITI’s member.”

Cambodian lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the government recognizes the benefit of EITI and wants to join, but he was not sure when.

“We need to have a petroleum law, a law on taxation, on human resource development, and to well prepare business contracts to make sure that investors can’t cheat us and that government officials must not practice corruption,” he said. “As soon as we have these things, we will join EITI.”

Cambodian PM sets Chevron oil production deadline

Tuesday April 6, 2010
AFP

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday he would terminate his country's contract with Chevron if the US energy giant does not begin oil production from offshore fields by late 2012.

Following the discovery of oil in 2005, Cambodia was quickly feted as the region's next potential petro-state, but production has stalled as the government and Chevron appear to have failed to agree over revenue sharing.

"There is no oil production yet, but we have said that Chevron must produce oil by late 2012, otherwise we will have to terminate the contract, (if) negotiation cannot reach an agreement," Hun Sen said.

The Southeast Asian nation is sitting on an estimated hundreds of millions of barrels of crude, and three times as much natural gas.

It remains unclear how much can actually be recovered, or if potential revenue would be used to benefit Cambodia. Previously the premier has warned it was "highly premature" to estimate how much oil underseas reserves might hold.

On Tuesday Hun Sen dismissed concerns over how Cambodia -- ranked among the world's most corrupt countries -- would use its new-found oil and gas wealth.

"Up to this hour, there is not even a drop of oil, but they have been talking about corruption from crude oil since 2002-2003," the premier said, at a meeting of agricultural officials.

"Don't talk about using the money, but let's talk about making money. I am a bit angry when they talk about corruption as we have not had a drop of oil," he added.

Last year a report by London-based corruption watchdog Global Witness criticised Chevron for failing to disclose the amount of money it allegedly paid to secure rights to drill for Cambodia's offshore oil.

The report, called "Country for Sale", said revenues from Cambodia's oil and mineral wealth were "jeopardised by high-level corruption, nepotism and patronage" in allocating and managing the assets.

Experts Gather to Debate Mineral Extraction

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
31 March 2010

Mineral extraction and development experts opened three days of meetings with government officials Tuesday in an effort to ease Cambodia’s move into a lucrative sector expected to bear fruit in the near future.

“Currently, knowledge about oil, gas and mining in this country is limited,” Douglas Broderick, the UN’s chief Cambodia coordinator, said in opening remarks Tuesday, before extraction experts from across Asia. “Learning from the lessons of others will help Cambodia in the extraction industry in a way that will bring benefits to all.”

Cambodia has the potential to yield silver, gold, oil and other precious minerals in at least a dozen provinces. Exploration is already underway, but there are wide concerns the industry’s abundant profits will not help all Cambodians and could find their way into the pockets of the rich, powerful or corrupt.

“The sharing of information is so critical,” Brian Lund, regional director for Oxfam America, which sponsored the conference, told reporters Tuesday, calling this week’s meetings “a starting point.”

Members of the government, private sector and civil society were all realizing the importance of minerals in the development of Southeast Asia, he said.

“Cambodia is a part of that,” he added, warning that possible downsides of extraction must be countered with clever management.

First up for Cambodia is oil and gas, which some estimates predict will start to flow by 2013, with an estimated revenue stream of $1.7 billion by 2021. Next would be mineral extraction, which could start bringing in money by 2015.

Experts warn that without transparent means to distribute the wealth of these industries, profits will not filter down to everyday Cambodians. They point to Cambodia’s disastrous forestry policies of the 1990s, when most of the country’s timber resources were cut down and sold off—legally and illegally—in trade that benefitted an elite few.

Tuesday’s meetings were a start at mitigating those concerns, participants said.

“Debate is a positive process that will ensure that Cambodia adopts good governance and, in the long term, develops a strong mining sector,” Richard Thompson, an international investment expert from the UK, said.

Meanwhile, Hang Chuon Naron, secretary general of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said Cambodia now must “balance taxation and build up the capacity of government officials.”

Transparency urged for nascent oil sector

Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Irwin Loy
The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA is taking strides to ensure that its nascent extractive industries will be well managed, an official with an international NGO said Tuesday, though observers warned that the government must be more transparent with incoming revenues.

With expectations raised by the discovery of potential offshore oil reserves, observers say extraction in Cambodia is at a critical stage.

At a conference Tuesday discussing industry governance, a representative of the NGO Oxfam America said he believed Cambodia is on the right path to avoiding pitfalls that have challenged oil-producing countries in the past.

“On the part of the government and the private sector, it is a finite resource we’re talking about. ... That opportunity has to be used well, not wasted,” said Brian Lund, the East Asia regional director for Oxfam America. “As we see it at the moment, the government of Cambodia is working in the right direction towards making sure that it is used well.”

Lund cited the establishment of an inter-ministerial working group on revenue management as a reason for optimism, as well as statements from officials suggesting that Cambodia may sign on to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a set of international standards that require governments to disclose their earnings from oil, gas and mining.

“It’s definitely part of the discussion,” Lund said of the EITI. “But there is still considerable work to be done before we get to the level of transparency and a level of accountability you would ask for in EITI.”

So far, it has been rare for authorities to release basic revenue figures.

EXPECTATIONS HAVE TO BE ... TEMPERED. IT’S NOT JUST A HUGE GOLDEN EGG.

Last week, for example, an official with the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority confirmed that PetroVietnam and French energy firm Total together gave the government US$26 million in signature bonuses and social funds in January, marking a substantial rise over the previous reported revenue of $800,000 in December.

Yet the figure was shown only during a conference presentation by a government finance officer; it was not part of any official disclosure.

Observers say they struggle to find official information detailing where revenue is going.

“Currently, we get information from newspapers,” said Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum.

“We know the companies that are granted for exploration. However, this is all the information we get.”

The government must be more forthright going forward, he said.

“There is a need to provide transparency and accountability in the sector in order to ... ensure that the benefits from oil and gas will benefit all of Cambodia,” Chhith Sam Ath said.

In the meantime, some are urging Cambodia to rein in expectations sparked by the discovery of potential offshore oil reserves.

“When someone mentions that there is gold or oil, there is an immediate expectation amongst the community at large that this is enormous, that it’s fantastic,” said Oxfam’s Lund. “But in fact, expectations have to be properly tempered. It’s not just a huge golden egg. There is a lot of complexity and ups and downs.”

Last year, officials said the Kingdom would not begin receiving revenue from potential oil and natural gas concessions until 2013 at the earliest.

Chevron extends Cambodian energy exploration deal

Jan 29, 2010
DPA

Chevron is one of many extractive companies that have been criticized in recent years for their refusal to say what they are paying for the rights to tap Cambodia's natural resources. Corruption is endemic in the impoverished South-East Asian nation, and there are concerns that any windfall from oil and gas revenues will be squandered.

Phnom Penh - US energy giant Chevron Corp has extended its offshore energy exploration deal with the Cambodian government, local media reported Friday, but the company provided no other details citing 'commercial reasons.'

'Chevron welcomes the ongoing opportunity to evaluate the Block A resource,' spokesman Gareth Johnstone told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

Block A, an area off Cambodia's coast in the Gulf of Thailand, is thought to be one of the nation's most promising areas for oil and gas exploration in the coming years.

Announcement of the deal after almost a year of negotiations with the Cambodian government puts an end to speculation that Chevron might quit the country.

The newspaper noted that Chevron has spent 125 million dollars and drilled 15 exploratory wells in Block A since 2002. The latest date for production, which has been pushed back several times, is 2013.

Chevron is one of many extractive companies that have been criticized in recent years for their refusal to say what they are paying for the rights to tap Cambodia's natural resources. Corruption is endemic in the impoverished South-East Asian nation, and there are concerns that any windfall from oil and gas revenues will be squandered.

Oxfam Calls on Chevron to Improve Transparency Practices

"Chevron is currently involved in oil and gas exploration in Cambodia" - KI-Media

SOURCE: Oxfam America

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- International aid agency Oxfam America filed a shareholder resolution today with Chevron calling on the California-based oil company to adopt a comprehensive policy of publicly disclosing payments made to governments where the company operates.

The resolution, filed on International Human Rights Day, aims to promote the rights of citizens in oil-rich countries by providing them with vital information about revenues coming into their countries. Co-filers on this resolution include Newground Social Investment, Robert Brooke Zevin Associates, Inc., and likely several other Chevron shareholders.

In 2008, Chevron paid more than $40 billion in taxes to governments around the world. Managed properly, oil revenues can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction in countries where Chevron and other companies operate. However, history has shown that oil company payments to governments as well as government receipts are often kept secret, leading to embezzlement, corruption, and revenue misappropriation by host governments, which, in many cases, has prevented oil revenues from contributing to economic development in these countries.

"Natural resource revenues are too often squandered through corruption, internal conflict, and weak governance," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "Citizens of resource-rich developing countries need adequate information to hold their governments accountable for using natural resource revenues for essential services like health and education. Chevron should maintain its position as an industry leader on this issue by practicing the highest degree of disclosure of payments to host governments to help make this possible."

Chevron plays a leading role in the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a voluntary program designed to increase transparency of payments by oil, gas, and mining companies to governments where resources are extracted. EITI is recognized as an important step toward improving revenue transparency, but a voluntary initiative has limited effect and does not cover all countries where Chevron invests, including Angola, Chad, and Cambodia.

"While Chevron has endorsed the concept of revenue transparency with programs like EITI, it does not fully disclose payments to governments on a country-by-country basis. A policy for disclosing this information in all of Chevron's countries of operation will help ensure that the company's - and the shareholders' - investments contribute to increased economic development and political stability in developing nations," said Offenheiser. "We hope that other Chevron investors will join us in supporting this proposal."

Oxfam's proposal presents an opportunity for Chevron to take a leadership role as the US Congress contemplates legislation that would legally require all oil, gas, and mining companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose payments made to host governments. This includes European companies, such as Shell and BP, as well as many companies in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. The Energy Security through Transparency Act of 2009 was introduced with bipartisan Senate support in September and is expected to be considered for a vote in 2010.

"This legislation hopes to address the lack of transparency in the oil, gas, and mining industry that often goes hand-in-hand with government corruption and violent conflict. The resulting instability poses a long-term threat to company investments and higher energy prices for consumers. By recognizing the value of transparency, Chevron can help elevate the industry and foster accountability in nations where secrecy has undermined development, democracy, and human rights," said Offenheiser.

Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 100 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice. Oxfam America is an affiliate of Oxfam International.

Experts Discuss Extractive Industry Contracts

By Sothearith Im, VOA, Khmer
Original report from Washington
05 October 2009

More than 3 billion people live in countries rich in natural resources, but half of those remain poor, prompting a question. Why are some countries rich and others poor?

This question and others were discussed in Washington recently, at an international conference on the extractive industries, sponsored by Oxfam America, where experts from civic organizations, extractive industries, universities and others met to discuss the essence of contracts between governments and the extractive industry.

Solutions for natural resource problems include bringing more information to the public, especially in how much money a company pays the government to exploit resources, said Ian Gary, a senior policy adviser for Oxfam America.

A contract can describe the amount of money the government gets, the work plan of the company and other obligations in terms of social development. Too often, he said, the contracts are kept secret.

“The importance of this conference is that it’s the first time that the international community of practitioners, experts and civil society organizations have sat in the same room to discuss how we can bring more information to the public about contracts and how we can improve the situation on the grounds,” he said.

Mam Sambath, executive director of Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency, who participated in the September conference, said his participation and that of others constituted important capacity building.

“Through this conference, experts shared their experiences in managing contracts between governments and companies in the countries they have been exploring and doing business in, in either oil, gas, or mines, either in Africa, Latin America or other countries in the world,” Mam Sambath said.

Lim Solin, East Asia program officer for Oxfam America, told VOA Khmer at the conference that the conference was a rare opportunity to bring experts together, even if they didn’t all agree.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the differences of opinion from other participants,” Lim Solin said. “For me, especially where I am coming from, Cambodia, I see that it’s a great opportunity for Oxfam America to host such a tripartite forum that brings together the public sector, private sector and civil society to come to a common place to discuss the issues, contracts and transparency. I hope that Oxfam America will be able to host this kind of international conference in Cambodia as well to ensure that this knowledge and experience can be shared with our friends and colleagues in Cambodia.”

On that day, U.S. bill, “Energy Security Through Transparency Act of 2009” was introduced to U.S. Senate and was happily welcomed by participants in the conference. The bill is expected to put more weight to the international efforts to improve the management of the natural resources in the world.