WITH all eyes on Libya — and the spiralling cost of fuel caused by the closure of more than half of that country’s oil production — last week should have been an auspicious time for the release of a report on global oil companies by two international watchdogs.Transparency International and the Revenue Watch Institute’s report contained the results of a survey of the international oil industry, which fingered several national oil companies for poor disclosure about issues affecting revenue distribution, information about company structure and anticorruption programmes.

Of the eight firms that fared worst, five were African state-owned companies. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was at the bottom of the list. The others were Angola’s Sonangol, Algeria’s Sonatrach, Equatorial Guinea’s GE Petrol and the Republic of Congo’s SNPC. They were joined at the bottom by, among others, Russian oil company Gazprom and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, both of which are active in Africa. But Libya’s National Oil Corporation was not measured.

Neither was PetroSA nor a number of other African national oil companies, though the report says the survey of 44 companies covers 60% of global oil and gas production.

 The survey’s categories covered reporting on anticorruption programmes; providing information on company structures; and disclosure of financial and technical data. It was designed to reflect the commitment of companies to stopping misappropriation of revenue and to providing information that makes governments more accountable to their citizens. NNPC, Sonangol, GE Petrol and Sonatrach all scored zero in reporting anticorruption programmes, while Nigeria also scored zero on company information disclosure.

 The survey unfortunately reinforces the negative perceptions about links between corruption, secrecy and oil in Africa. This is disappointing given that there have been improvements in Africa’s national oil companies over the past decade. Transparency has improved in the wake of global anticorruption initiatives and old monopolies are being broken by growing competition.

Some national oil companies are being reformed. NNPC faces extensive restructuring. Many states in Africa, including SA, Mozambique, Algeria and Mali, have set up independent licensing agencies to separate the process from governments and their companies. State-owned oil companies in new producers such as Ghana and Uganda are expected to lose the baggage of their predecessors and some countries, such as Niger, have built strong public accountability into their constitutions. And national oil companies are increasingly spreading their portfolios across national borders.

 With the marketing of Africa as an increasingly attractive resource destination for investors, its oil and gas sector is benefiting from a wealth of new private capital — and a growing number of foreign state oil companies. Already more than 30 of the latter are operating in Africa. But as the survey shows, many African oil companies still have bad habits, making them less competitive in their own backyards. They are well below the competitive standards of their counterparts elsewhere. The longer they take to get their houses in order, the more they are going to fall behind.

 The assets and portfolios of foreign national oil companies are larger than those of African national oil companies on the continent outside their own countries, which shows the assets are being snapped up. If Africa wants to keep ownership and control of its resources, it needs to keep up. As Duncan Clarke, CEO of African oil and gas advisory firm Global Pacific & Partners, said of foreign national oil companies in Africa: “They are eating Africa’s lunch. If the Africans are not careful, they will eat their dinner as well.”