The scale of illicit financial flows (IFFs) originating from extractive economies across the Global South has grown dramatically over the last four decades. Focusing on the oil sector, and the unique challenges of addressing and regulating the oil commodity-trading sector, this paper examines the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), and the strengths and limits of the EITI Standard, through the lens of transparency as a wide-ranging, dominant form of liberal governance.