Seychelles

The work plan includes activities related to EITI implementation, However, the work plan does not address the scope of EITI implementation or reflect the transition from traditional EITI reporting to systematic disclosures. The objectives are not clearly linked to national priorities or the MSG’s vision for EITI implementation. Follow up on recommendations from Validation or previous EITI Reports is not included. The work plan does not include a plan for disclosing petroleum contracts from January 2021 onwards (see Requirement 2.4).

The government is fully, actively and effectively engaged in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the EITI process. There have been regular public statements of support from senior government officials and, a senior government official has been appointed as EITI lead.

At the initial stages of EITI implementation, companies appeared to be fully, actively and effectively engaged in the EITI process. Since the MSG was established in 2014, the main petroleum industry players ceased their activities in the country. This does not at the time of the assessment appear to have a negative effect on the EITI process.

Civil society appear to be fully, actively and effectively engaged in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the EITI process. There appears to be some challenges with engaging civil society beyond the MSG in debates on the petroleum industry, given that there has not been any commercially viable discovery.

Meeting minutes demonstrate that the MSG is providing oversight of the EITI process, despite practical limitations to industry engagement. The assessment of “satisfactory progress” takes into account the Board-approved request for proportionate implementation, which notes limitations to industry engagement.

Various government agencies disclose descriptions or full documents of laws and regulations governing the sector, which are also described in the 2015-16 EITI Report.

The government’s policy regarding the disclosure of petroleum contracts had not been clarified since the first Validation.

Information about the recipients of petroleum licenses and the statutory award process has been disclosed. The corrective action related to the quarrying sector was addressed through the proposal for proportionate implementation. However, it is not disclosed whether the award of licenses to SSR Seychelles Alpha and Beta in 2018 followed the statutory “open file” procedure and whether any other companies submitted bids.

PetroSeychelles has disclosed on its website current and historical license information, including dates of award. However, dates of application and the duration of licenses are not available. The corrective action related to the quarrying sector was addressed through the proposal for proportionate implementation.

The 2020 Beneficial Ownership Act provides the legal framework for establishing effective beneficial ownership transparency in the extractive sector, although further regulations are required to establish detailed guidance for reporting. Disclosures under the Beneficial Ownership Act are yet to take place.

The state currently has no commercial participation in the upstream petroleum sector. PetroSecyhelles operates a regulator on behalf of the government and promotes activities in the oil sector. SEYPEC no longer holds any interests in upstream oil companies.

The PetroSeychelles website provides information on petroleum exploration activities. Further details on the extractive sectors including exploration activities is provided in the 2015-16 EITI Report.

There is currently no production in the petroleum sector. The 2015-16 EITI Report provides production data on volumes and values from quarrying activities are provided by commodity and by company.

There are no exports of oil, gas and minerals from Seychelles, which is confirmed in the 2015-16 EITI Report and stakeholder consultations

There is no production and thus no in-kind revenue collected by the government. The requirement on in-kind revenues is therefore not applicable to Seychelles.

The 2015-16 EITI Report comprehensively discloses the transactions between the government and SOEs.

The MSG has agreed materiality thresholds for selecting companies and revenue streams. The report lists non-reporting companies and government entities and provides an assessment of the materiality of their payments. The government has provided full unilateral disclosure of all extractives revenues

There is no evidence suggesting that infrastructure provisions and barter arrangements exist. The requirement on infrastructure provisions and barter arrangements is therefore not applicable to Seychelles.

There is no indication that revenues from the transportation of commodities would constitute material payments. The requirement on transportation revenue is not applicable to Seychelles.

There are no provisions on direct subnational payments and no indication that extractive companies make payments to sub-national levels of government. The requirement on subnational direct payments is therefore not applicable to Seychelles.

The 2015-16 EITI Report discloses the revenue data disaggregated by individual company, government entity and revenue stream. The report does not systematically disclose revenues by project.

The EITI disclosures for 2015 were published ten days after the deadline, while the 2016 data in the report was published well in advance of the deadline (i.e. 31 December 2018).

The approach to ensuring the reliability of revenue data is endorsed by the MSG and reflects the Board-approved proposal for proportionate implementation.

The 2015-16 EITI Report provides an explanation of the flows of revenues in the extractive sector and while revenues are recorded in the national budget.

The 2015-16 EITI Report provides an overview of the national budgeting process including a description of the role of key government agencies and auditing procedures.

Available documentation and the 2015-16 EITI Report indicate that sub-national transfers of extractive sector revenues do not exist in Seychelles. The requirement on subnational transfers is therefore not applicable to Seychelles.

The economic contribution of the petroleum sector is immaterial.

While the 2015-2016 EITI Report summarised environmental provisions of the Model Petroleum Agreement and the 2016 Environmental Protection Act is available online, the MSG does not yet appear to have comprehensively considered the environmental impacts of the extractive industries despite stakeholder interest in the issue.

The MSG has made considerable efforts to disseminate information about the EITI and the information disclosed, considering that petroleum exploration is not high on the public agenda unless there are any reports of a commercially viable petroleum discovery.

EITI revenue data is available in open format, but the MSG does not appear to have an open data policy.

The MSG has considered the findings and recommendations from EITI reporting, and made progress on implementing these.

The Seychelles EITI published its 2016 annual progress report in 2017, describing progress against work plan objectives and recommendations from the first EITI Report. It includes an assessment of progress against only against selected EITI Requirements, and does not include any assessment of the impact and outcomes of the work plan objectives.