A gas and water eruption at an oilfield has led to the evacuation of a village in south-central Albania, the destruction of property and health concerns for the inhabitants. Bankers Petroleum, the Canada-based company that operates the oilfield under an agreement with the Albanian government, has come under increased scrutiny as a result.
Much of the reporting in Albanian media has been slanted. “Bankers hasn’t paid a cent in taxes” was the typical headline. The company has in fact paid millions in revenue to state coffers. It is the largest foreign investor and the largest taxpayer in Albania. However, an official investigation will now take place to see if it needs to pay more in taxes and how much will it be forced to pay in fines and reconstruction funds.
Bankers has said very little on the matter. However, a statement by its top Albanian executive, clearly a knee jerk reaction to inaccurate reporting and political posturing by members of parliament, came across as condescending to the Albanian public. It essentially called the people complaining of health ill-effects ignorant and the eruption harmless because you can apparently buy the CO2 gas that exploded “at the supermarket as dry ice,” as the executive put it.
The company has stuck to the story that the gas was not poisonous. Albanian authorities have also found methane in the area and blood analysis show the people in the area have dangerous chemical compound values associated with living in an oil field.
The government has toughened its tone, essentially saying it will audit and enforce the contract to the highest degree possible. A visibly angry Prime Minister Rama said it would not allow any international company to treat Albanians as “second-class people.” He is bringing in international auditors to look at the Bankers contract with a fine comb, he added, to make sure the company pays all its dues to the state.
Bankers is essentially a black box for the Albanian media. The company has decided it is best not to comment at all and not to address much of the inadequate reporting taking place locally, and the story has not so far received much attention in international media.
We know very little about the company because they have chosen not to communicate with us. However, as a public company, meaning its stock is traded in exchanges, it has to make certain information public. As such for people who know how to interpret the information, we actually know quite a bit about Bankers.
The company is typical of a small Canada-based extraction business. It has a tiny staff in Canada and most of its workers are in Albania. Most of its stock owners are in Canada and the United States. Like many other North American companies, it also employs accounting and profit transfer methods that use loopholes that are legal but also make sure the company pays the least amount of tax possible to all countries where it has offices and operations. The company is also primarily a business that aims to make money and increase its stock value.
The Albanian government must walk a fine line between upholding public interest and scaring off other potential foreign investors. It also must avoid the perception of a witch-hunt against Bankers in order to bring another contractor to take its place. Not only would such moves lead the government into a costly litigation process, they would also cause more ethical questions over public officials’ self interests in such affairs.
Bankers must take full responsibility of the damages and pay any fines according to the Albanian legislation. It must also act more like what it is – the largest foreign investor in Albania based in one of the countries with the best international images out there. The company is the unofficial face of Canada in Albania, and it has a high standard to keep, particularly when it comes to corporate social responsibility.
The company has propelled Canada to the top of the foreign investors to Albania. The political importance of Albania to Canada is evident in the fact that Ottawa doesn’t even bother to open an embassy in Tirana. However, the Great White North has strong ties the Land of the Eagles nonetheless. Canada is a NATO ally and Albania’s largest brain drain recipient. If Bankers misbehaves, at the end of the day, it is also casts a bad reflection on Canada.
