Trinidad and Tobago EITI Report 2017
Chair, TTEITI Secretariat
Victor Hart is a retired UK trained chartered quantity surveyor and project manger and the recipient of a Trinidad and Tobago National Award, the Humming Bird Medal Silver, for his work in fighting corruption and in bringing greater transparency and accountability to the country's energy sector. He previously served as a director on the Board of EITI International and was also Chair of the TTEITI Steering Committee from 2010 to 2019.
Thus far, the EITI Independent Administrator has reconciled an aggregate of approximately $128 Billion in payments from extractive companies and receipts by government and found a total of $869Million in discrepancies (i.e 0.0067%) that have been satisfactorily reconciled. However, a conclusion that cannot be drawn is that the extractive sectors are completely free of corruption because the EITI process, as currently practised, will not expose corruption that might occur in companies in the sectors’ value chain or in service companies. In introducing reforms, the TTEITI Steering Committee and Secretariat are following the international trend and expanding focus beyond revenue transparency to other areas that are supportive of the primary goals of promoting transparency and accountability in the exploitation of the country’s natural resources and being a disincentive to corruption.
Key Takeaways
- This is the final report based on the EITI Standard 2016.
- The Independent Auditor has reconciled TT$128 billion in payments from extractive companies and found $869 million in discrepancies.
- TTEITI will be expanding its focus beyond revenue transparency to areas such as environmental reporting, mainstreaming and transfer pricing reporting.
Welcome to Trinidad and Tobago’s sixth annual Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Report that covers Government's fiscal year 2017. Previous reports covered fiscal years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and 2016.
This report is the final one based on the EITI Standard 2016. The next report will be based on EITI Standard 2019 that was introduced in June 2019 with some new requirements.
Readers of the previous reports will notice that this report includes new information and more will be seen in future reports.
The innovations are being introduced because the EITI, as a dynamic initiative, is responding positively to the evolving challenges in its member-countries while upholding an international standard and accommodating the different national realities and contexts.
Download the report
Since the EITI Report 2016 was published, the EITI Board and implementing countries have made substantial advances in transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining sectors e.g.
There are 52 EITI implementing countries worldwide and more new members are in prospect.
30 countries have disclosed Beneficial Ownership data and all will be required to do so by January 1, 2020.
31 countries have published some extractive sectors contracts and 16 of them have published all or most of them. All countries must publish contracts signed or amended after January 1, 2021.
30 countries have fully or partially disclosed revenues at the project level. All countries must report data at project level for all reports covering 2018 and later.
40 countries are reporting on revenues from State-owned Enterprises (SOEs).
22 countries are reporting on companies’ ‘in-kind’ payments to governments.
28 countries are reporting on environmental payments and highlight environmental policies and impact management.
All countries are required to consider gender balance in MSG representation.
More countries are shifting from producing printed EITI Reports and instead are publishing data systematically through routine government and company systems.
This report records the findings of revenue payments and receipts for seven fiscal years, data that allows conclusions to be drawn and new plans to be structured.
Thus far, the EITI Independent Administrator has reconciled an aggregate of approximately $128 Billion in payments from extractive companies and receipts by government and found a total of $869Million in discrepancies (i.e 0.0067%) that have been satisfactorily reconciled.
One conclusion that can be drawn is that the checks and balances in the system are working and show that Trinidad and Tobago is achieving revenue transparency and accountability at the level of the award of exploration and production contracts and licences and the honouring of revenue payment commitments by extractive companies to government.
However, a conclusion that cannot be drawn is that the extractive sectors are completely free of corruption because the EITI process, as currently practised, will not expose corruption that might occur in companies in the sectors’ value chain or in service companies.
In introducing reforms, the TTEITI Steering Committee and Secretariat are following the international trend and expanding focus beyond revenue transparency to other areas that are supportive of the primary goals of promoting transparency and accountability in the exploitation of the country’s natural resources and being a disincentive to corruption. Examples of that expanding focus, some of which are reflected in this report, are:
More Mining Sector company revenues reporting.
More environmental impact reporting.
Encouraging more mid-stream and down-stream energy companies reporting.
Beneficial Ownership disclosure.
Transfer Pricing information reporting.
Commodity Trading information reporting.
Mainstreaming the EITI reporting in government and companies systems.
Internationally, the EITI remains a voluntary coalition of the stakeholders (governments, extractive companies and civil society) engaged in the exploration and monetization of natural resources. Under the initiative, the three stakeholder groups work together to improve openness about and accountable management of the revenues earned from the extractive sectors.
The EITI is recognised as the global gold standard for the good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources, an initiative that protects the people’s patrimony and their children’s inheritance derived from the wealth of the country’s natural resources.
The EITI remains headquartered in Oslo, Norway and it saw management changes in 2019 with the appointment of Mark Robinson as the new Executive Director of the International Secretariat and Helen Clark, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, as the new Chair of the EITI Board.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the EITI continues to provide a collaborative mechanism and platform for developing and consolidating transparency and accountability in the nation's oil and gas sectors, the cornerstones of the national economy.
The collating, verifying and sharing of these sectors’ data will build a better understanding among citizens on how the government is using the country’s scarce non-renewable natural resources.
Through information dissemination, the EITI Report facilitates greater citizens' participation in the country's governance thus creating a more participatory democracy.
Also, the greater availability of data enhances the trust of investors and helps build the strong institutional frameworks that are necessary to support an improved investment climate.
TTEITI’s aim has been and remains to ensure that the EITI is relevant to and effective in targeting the national priorities.
Looking ahead, do expect that, in time, the current annual printed format for reporting on the extractive sectors will give way to a more efficient online data disclosure format that will provide stakeholders with data that is relevant, timely, easily accessible and cost-effective to produce.
On behalf of the TTEITI Steering Committee and Secretariat, I wish to acknowledge with thanks the roles played by the stakeholders — Government, extractive companies and civil society — in guiding and supporting EITI implementation over the last year and in producing this report.
In particular, I recognise the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries and the Ministry of Finance’s Board of Inland Revenue and Investments Division for their contributions.
Also, I recognise the EITI Independent Administrator, BDO Trinity Limited, supported by Hart Nurse Limited, for their professionalism in conducting the sectors surveys and reporting on their findings for all the EITI Reports we have published to date.
Finally, I bid farewell to all upon my retirement from the TTEITI and chairmanship of the Steering Committee, a role in which I have been privileged to serve from inception on December 8, 2010 to June 30, 2019, a total of 8.5 years.
Please accept my thanks for your support and I hope that, given the importance of the EITI to the well-being of our country, you will continue to support TTEITI.
Related Reports
