Working Paper
Uganda’s nascent oil sector
This paper discusses the political economy of oil in Uganda since the announcement of its discovery in 2006. It focuses on the dynamics of oil revenue generation (pre-commercial production) and expenditure, investor-stakeholder contestation (i.e...
Working Paper
Global oil theft: impact and policy responses
This paper, the first of two on global oil theft and fraud, discusses the prevalence, methods, and consequences of global oil theft, valued at US$133 billion per year and equivalent to 5–7 per cent of the global market for crude oil and petroleum...
Working Paper
Enhancing sustainable development from oil, gas, and mining
This paper outlines how sustainable development in resource-rich countries requires an ‘all of government’ approach as well as multi-stakeholder dialogue and partnerships between government, companies, and civil society organizations. Effective...
Working Paper
Uganda’s oil
We study Uganda’s journey to become a petroleum producer and provide estimates regarding the size and timing of the oil revenues to be expected. At an average US$38 per capita per year over a 33-year period, oil revenue by itself will not be...
Working Paper
Extractive industries: imperatives, opportunities, and dilemmas in the net-zero transition
The extractives industries are highly controversial but remain vitally important in much of the developing world. This paper considers their role in reducing energy poverty and discusses scenarios for the future of the global markets for oil, gas...
Working Paper
Extractive industries: recognizing and managing the risks in resource-dependent economies
This paper analyses the risks facing resource-dependent countries. These include: (i) economic mismanagement (the ‘resource curse’); (ii) political mismanagement; (iii) environmental damage (climate change and the destruction of natural capital). It...
Working Paper
Extractive industries: enclaves or a means to transform economies?
This paper argues for a change in government attitudes to their extractive industries: as enclaves useful primarily as revenue sources. This is too narrow a perspective: it fails to recognize the broader economic linkages that are invariably possible...
Working Paper
Extractive industries: addressing transparency, corruption, and theft
This paper analyses the roles that states, civil society, and international actors can play in tackling the weak governance that sometimes leads to resources being used for private rather than public benefit. It discusses the corruption that bedevils...
Working Paper
Extractive industries: transforming states and improving economic management
While market mechanisms and private initiatives can deliver much for development, public action is also necessary to: maximize the economic benefits of the extractive industries; manage potentially large capital and revenues flows; minimize adverse...
Working Paper
Extractive industries: transforming companies for better development outcomes
Companies in the oil, gas, and mining sectors face ever intensifying scrutiny over their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and impacts: from civil society but also from investment funds and other stakeholders with ESG mandates...
Working Paper
Climate change and the extractives sector
The extractives industries must adjust their operations to shifting patterns of demand for oil, natural gas, and coal together with metals and minerals – as policies and new technologies encourage progress along low-carbon pathways in energy...
Working Paper
The boom, the bust, and the dynamics of oil resource management in Ghana
Oil resources are neither a curse nor a blessing. The sound management of these resources can make them beneficial or otherwise. In order to translate Ghana’s oil resources into inclusive development amid high expectations, several laws and...
Working Paper
Oil discovery and macroeconomic management
This paper analyses the evolution of fiscal and monetary variables in Ghana, from the discovery of oil in 2007 through to 2014. It documents the deterioration of fiscal and monetary discipline over this period, which resulted in a rebound of debt, a...
Research Brief
Oil in Ghana
Working Paper
Dependence on extractive industries in lower-income countries
This paper synthesizes statistical information evidencing the proposition that extractive industries are of great significance in many low- and middle-income developing economies. It examines the scale of the current dependence of low- and middle...
Working Paper
The curse of the one-size-fits-all fix
In the context of falls in extractive commodities prices since 2011, this paper examines the history of thinking about the interplay between extractives and economic development. Just as ‘the resource curse’ fails as a generic explanation on account...
Working Paper
Oil and gas companies and the management of social and environmental impacts and issues
This paper provides an overview of social and environmental management practices in the oil and gas industry. It outlines the evolution of international oil companies’ approaches over the last 20 years, reviews what social and environmental...
Working Paper
Donor-supported approaches to improving extractives governance
Donor interest in the extractives sector is based upon the premise that it represents an opportunity to improve a country’s development prospects. However, in many cases the presence of extractive resources is associated with poor economic...
Working Paper
Extractive dependency in lower-income countries
The first objective of this paper is to update earlier assessments of mineral dependence in lower-income countries. In 2018, the mining of metals and coal continued to be an important contributor to the economies of several low- and middle-income...
Working Paper
Countering global oil theft: responses and solutions
This second of two papers on global oil theft discusses ways to reduce oil theft, misappropriation, and fraud. At US$133 billion per year, oil is the largest stolen natural resource globally, while fuel is the most smuggled natural resource. Oil...
Working Paper
Incorporation of offshore shell companies as an indicator of corruption risk in the extractive industries
We show that the incorporation of offshore entities increases when oil and gas exploration licences are awarded. We exploit leaked data on the incorporation of shell companies and detailed information on tax havens and the awarding rounds of oil...
Working Paper
The role of oil and gas in the development of the global economy
This paper is concerned with the role of oil and gas in the development of the global economy. Its focus is on the context in which oil and gas producers in both established and developing countries must frame their policies in order to optimize the...
Working Paper
Natural resources' impact on government revenues
Motivated by the fact that the taxation of natural resources is both crucial and particularly challenging for developing countries, this paper draws on a unique dataset to produce empirical evidence on two issues pertaining to the fiscal impact of...