For far too long, the oil sector operated uninterrupted as far as financial audit is concerned. If by any chance such audit happened, it was not made publicly known. In 2019, an American corruption watchdog, The Sentry, published a damning report implicating oil companies in misappropriation of revenues.

 The report claimed that most of these activities were aided by senior government officials. The report was rubbished by the government as “a Western agenda to destabilise the smooth implementation pro[1]cess of the Revitalised Peace Agreement”. The response came in defence of NilePet, Dar Petroleum, and Malaysian-own Petronas among others. Everything was “fine” by then. Today, the same government seeks to audit these companies.

President Salva Kiir has already established an Oversight Committee to Oversee Implementation of Audit of the Petroleum Sector. This is also an initiative of the National Petroleum and Gas Commission. One year after its formation, the revitalised government mulls empowering the Nation[1]al Petroleum and Gas Commission by ensuring that the contract signed between the parastatal and Alex Stewart International is reviewed. But what really does the audit aim at solving?

 Judging from the content of a document extended to The City Review, the audit is aimed at enabling the government to reconstitute and empower the commission in accordance with the Revitalised Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan signed in 2018. The gas commission also needs the financial report to facilitate the formulation of its policy framework, which could be used to guide the operation of oil companies in the country.

Another good score from the audit request is the need by the government to conserve environment and protect livelihoods in the oil exploitation process. Oil companies have come under sharp criticisms for waste mismanagement, which cause a serious environmental concern and left an enormous impact on human life. The oil waste toxicity has led to birth defects in Paloch, for instance. Babies are born with parts of their body either missing or distorted. Environmental activists and civil society organizations voiced concerns over the matter for years. Beyond the aforementioned reasons, the purposes of the audit do not seem to encompass accountability and transparency despite report by the UN Security Council on large[1]scale financial misappropriation within oil companies.

At a presser aimed at grilling and scrutinizing officials from major operating oil companies last week, journalists were asked to vacate the venue during the transfer of certifications. When they were allowed in thereafter, attempts to raise critical questions were thwarted. The conference also turned out to be an orientation program of oil dealers other than probing them on the status of suspicious monetary remittances. The UNSC had also earlier sought to uncover whether Dar Petroleum remitted the government and NilePet on suspicion that the company (Dar Petroleum) did not settle yearly surface rental fees to the Bank of South Sudan for almost one year with scepticism that the company might not have paid any money completely.