UPDATED 8 March: Publication and launch of the Timor Leste report is still pending.
This week, Norway disclosed its 2009 EITI Report. In this report, oil and gas companies have disclosed the tax payments they have made to the Norwegian governement in 2009. In turn, the government has disclosed the amounts received. These disclosures have been reconciled by an independent reconciler in a process oversee by the local multi-stakeholder group. The Norwegian EITI Report can be downloaded from the website of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.
At the publication of the Norwegian EITI report, Norway's Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Riis-Johansen said:
"EITI is a simple yet important tool that can help to improve living conditions and the future for millions of people. Countries with access to natural resources are sitting on a fortune. It is a paradox that the population of many of these countries are so poor. I am happy that Norway is active and supports the EITI in many ways and that we also contribute by implementing the same measures that we expect the countries where transparency and control of financial flows is absent or very poor."
Norway's 2nd EITI Report was published 22 December 2010 and covers data from 2009. The report covers all companies operating in the petroleum sector and includes a complete reconciliation, with no unresolved discrepancies. The Norwegian is highly disaggregated and shows payments by company and type of revenue. Government revenues from this sector amounted to 27% of the state's total revenue. Payments were 135 billion Norwegian kroner lower in 2009 compared with 2008. In a press release, the Norwegian government states that the decrease in revenue is mainly due to the decrease in prices for Norwegian oil and gas from an unusually high level in 2008. Moreover, higher costs and record-high investments contributed to lower tax payments for 2009. In addition to the standard EITI reconciliation, the report includes reconciliation between EITI figures and the state accounts and between EITI figures and currency payments to the Norwegian Central Bank. The report is available in English and Norwegian.
The EITI report follow many of the good practices of EITI reporting highlighted in the EITI Good Practice note on EITI Reporting. The EITI Good Practice Note on EITI Reporting can be found at http://eiti.org/document/good-practice-eiti-reporting
Norway has also completed EITI Validation, and the EITI Board is expected to announce Norway's EITI status within a few weeks.
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