Oil and Gas Industry Leads Global Corruption Index: US More Corrupt than Qatar

May 7th, 2011 by Susan Kraemer

A corruption index published by Transparency International, based on 13 surveys globally, finds that the oil and gas industry and mining are the industries that account for most global corruption. The evaluations were performed by business leaders in each country, including the Corruption Perceptions Index, the Bribe Payers Index and the Global Corruption Barometer, and looked at bribery and “state capture” or the degree to which a country’s laws have been impacted by the influence of companies.

At number 22 out of 178 countries, with a rating of 7.1, the US was rated below virtually every European country, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It even rated a little below Hong Kong, Chile and Qatar.

But the US rates much better than Somalia, the worst-rated country, at 1.1, followed by Afghanistan and Iraq at 1.4 and 1.5.

Bribery was one of the two key indices of corruption the study looked at, but the bribery count included only foreign payments to public officials.

Companies in oil and gas; heavy manufacturing and mining were seen to bribe officials most frequently, along with those in public works contracts and construction and real estate and property development.

The second sectoral ranking evaluated the likelihood of companies from the 19 sectors to engage in “state capture”, whereby parties attempt to wield undue influence on government rules, regulations and decision-making through private payments to public officials.

Here again, oil and gas and mining rated in the top five sectors, along with public works contracts and construction and real estate and property development as the sectors whose companies were most likely to use legal or illegal payments to influence the state.

In the US, government officials are legally allowed to openly receive payments from domestic companies to campaign for office in the US. The study looked at foreign payments, not domestic ones. The largest global oil and gas companies are ostensibly US companies.

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has filed charges against ex-US vice president Dick Cheney and executives of the oil firm Halliburton, over alleged bribes to Nigerian officials in the 1990s.

Image: Presscore Canada

SEC Bows To Big Oil, Delays Anti-Corruption Regulation (huffingtonpost.com)
Sponsors Of Oil-Drilling Expansion Bill Received $8.8 Million In Industry Contributions (huffingtonpost.com)
Obama Letter :: Cut tax breaks for oil, gas industry (mb50.wordpress.com)

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Tags: Political corruption, Transparency International, US

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

Guest

I have just spoken to Transparency International and they tell me this is factually incorrect. They have never ranked the oil & gas sector in a corruption index. You’ve done a hatchet job to back up the cleantech argument, but have undermined the integrity of your site in doing so.
- Susan Kraemer
  
  Well you spoke to someone not connected with this report that I cover in this story then. TI puts out many different publications.
  
  http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2008/bpi_2008_en
  
  “The Bribe Payers Survey, which serves as the basis for the BPI, also
  looks at the likelihood of firms in 19 specific sectors to engage in
  bribery. In the first of two new sectoral rankings, companies in public
  works contracts and construction; real estate and property development;
  oil and gas; heavy manufacturing; and mining were seen to bribe
  officials most frequently. The cleanest sectors, in terms of bribery of
  public officials, were identified as information technology, fisheries,
  and banking and finance.
  
  A second sectoral ranking evaluates the likelihood of companies from the
  19 sectors to engage in state capture, whereby parties attempt to wield
  undue influence on government rules, regulations and decision-making
  through private payments to public officials. Public works contracts and
  construction; oil and gas; mining; and real estate and property
  development were seen as the sectors whose companies were most likely to
  use legal or illegal payments to influence the state. The banking and
  finance sector is seen to perform considerably worse in terms of state
  capture than in willingness to bribe public officials, meaning that its
  companies may exert considerable undue influence on regulators, a
  significant finding in light of the ongoing global financial crisis.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2008/bpi_2008_en
  
  “The Bribe Payers Survey, which serves as the basis for the BPI, also looks at the likelihood of firms in 19 specific sectors to engage in bribery. In the first of two new sectoral rankings, companies in public works contracts and construction; real estate and property development; oil and gas; heavy manufacturing; and mining were seen to bribe officials most frequently. The cleanest sectors, in terms of bribery of public officials, were identified as information technology, fisheries, and banking and finance.
  
  A second sectoral ranking evaluates the likelihood of companies from the 19 sectors to engage in state capture, whereby parties attempt to wield undue influence on government rules, regulations and decision-making through private payments to public officials. Public works contracts and construction; oil and gas; mining; and real estate and property development were seen as the sectors whose companies were most likely to use legal or illegal payments to influence the state. The banking and finance sector is seen to perform considerably worse in terms of state capture than in willingness to bribe public officials, meaning that its companies may exert considerable undue influence on regulators, a significant finding in light of the ongoing global financial crisis. “
Nicholas

I would make it illegal for any politician to accept money from domestic companies for election campaigns. That includes governor, congress, president, etc. That ban creates a more fair playing field so that elections are not bought. That is in no shape nor form a democracy and it needs to be.
http://www.facebook.com/jeylerwerve Jonathan Eyler-Werve

How would one turn these findings into policy change? Rankings like these surveys are fun, I guess, but how does this inform policy makers or advocates on current challenges?
- Susan Kraemer
  
  If it was easy to make the changes that everyone agrees make sense, it would not be as corrupt. Once a nation is corrupt it is hard to change it. Media is complicit, making it more difficult to change the US.
Lister038

And just how corrupt (meaning Marxist) are those who conducted this survey?
BlueRock

Perfect accompanying photo!
- Susan Kraemer
  
  Yes. Until I saw it I never noticed the other meaning of ” vice” president…