‘Oil trader Vitol silent about its activities in high-risk Nigeria’ 20 October 2020

Oil trader Vitol is one of the world’s biggest companies, yet its operations have largely remained under the radar. A new report by SOMO and CISLAC sheds light on Vitol’s activities in the high-risk oil sector of Nigeria, questions the company’s lack of transparency and failure to comply with international standards for responsible business conduct, and calls for new legislation to hold companies like Vitol accountable for the impact of their activities abroad.

…This lack of transparency is problematic given the high risks associated with oil trading. In many oil producing countries, oil revenues comprise a significant portion of the government budget and, in some cases, are the country’s largest revenue stream. This is true in Nigeria, where oil sales are also notoriously opaque. This combination of very high potential gains and opacity surrounding oil sales has proved conducive to corruption and fraud. Vitol and other oil traders have been named in relation to various controversial practices. Vitol denies involvement in these controversies, but the company also chooses not to disclose information that could improve transparency and accountability in the sector.

Concrete legislative proposals for mandatory due diligence are currently being discussed in the EU and in various national parliaments, including the Dutch parliament. Also, negotiations for a UN treaty on business and human rights will start again next week. In the meantime, governments should step up their efforts to ensure that companies domiciled in their territories abide by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.