The President and CEO of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), Atty. Saifuah-Mai Gray, recently showcased the country at this year’s Africa Oil Week, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In her opening address at the EITI SOE Summit 2021, which took place from 8-11 November, Madam Gray informed participants at the summit that Liberia has been in the process of implementing the EITI since 2006, noting that the impacts have demonstrated that the benefits of the EITI to countries are extensive and so Liberia holds this in high regards.
She told participants that in line with this year’s EITI summit which focuses on the future of energy, all leaders of respective SOEs should have an increasing expectation to enhance efficiency in the mandates given them by their governments.
“As we meet here today to deliberate on how we as SOE leaders can participate in this new venture of the energy transition and understanding the impact of this transition on our operations and revenues, we need to take up the challenge and remain steadfast to those standards that inform sustainability and transparency in the industry that will continue to attract our responsible investing partners,” she stressed.
She stated that the EITI Standard requires information along the extractive industry value chain from the point of extraction, to how the revenue makes its way through the government and how it contributes to the economy, adding that this includes how licenses and contracts are allocated and registered, who are the beneficial owners of those operations, what are the fiscal and legal arrangements, how much is produced, how much is paid, where are those revenues allocated, and what is the contribution to the economy and the society?
In Liberia, she disclosed that significant impact has been made in this direction, encouraging her colleagues to therefore, get on board and create a transparent environment.
