Human rights and good governance campaigners have stepped up pressure to ensure transparency in the oil and gas industry following a Global Witness (GW) report highlighting beneficial ownership concerns in a series transactions involving Block 13 in Liberia.
GW found no direct evidence of wrongdoing by ExxonMobil or partner Canadian Overseas Petroleum but characterised the “artificial two-step structure” of the acquisition as strange, arguing that the scale and timing of later payments by the National Oil Company of Liberia (Nocal) to legislators and politicians may be interpreted as inducements.
