Statoil tops in transparency ranking

Transparency in corporate reporting: Assessing the world's largest companies” analyses the transparency of corporate reporting on a range of anticorruption measures among the 105 largest publicly listed multinational companies. Together these companies are worth more than €9 trillion and touch the lives of people in countries across the globe, wielding enormous and far reaching power.

Transparency International scores companies in all business spheres from 0-10 based on their disclosure of information important for investors and the general public: where they pay their taxes, their corporate structures and what they are doing to prevent corruption. Gazprom is ranked 98th with 2.8 points, while Norway's Statoil oil and gas firm is at the top with 8.3 points.

Statoil is together with French Total partner with Gazprom in the Shtokman Development AG with a cooperation contract that expired on July 1.

In 2009, Statoil CEO, Helge Lund, said to Aftenposten that the technology to develop Stockman is available, but he also expressed concerns about regulation, political risks in addition to possible corruption. Lund also said that doing business with Gazprom is like doing business with the Russian government, unlike Statoils previous collaboration with Lukoil in Iraq.