The Norwegian Oil Fund has sold almost 70% of its shares in the French oil company Total. The Norwegian Burma Committee, (NBC) which has been campaigning against the Fund’s investments in Total because of its contested activities in the military-ruled Asian country, is pleased. “This is very good news,” says Marte Graff Jenssen of NBC. (03-MAR-06)
Written by HRH / Ralph Pluimert. Photo of Marthe Graff Jenssen: HRH / Niels Jacob Harbitz.
Last Tuesday, after a year of campaigning, joyful news reached the offices of the Norwegian Burma Committee. That day it was made public in the course of 2005, the Norwegian Oil Fund (Statens Pensjonsfond-Utland) had sold 70% of its Total-stocks, to the value of 3,8 billion Norwegian Krones (480 million Euro). The Burma Committee considers Total an important pillar of the country’s military regime. The French concern cooperates with the military regime to exploit a gas field on the Burmese cost via the regime’s own oil company. This partnership brings in an estimated 390 million Euro for the regime, which allegedly spends the money on its army that covers nearly half the state budget.
Uncomfortable
“This is very good news. We interpret the sale of the stocks as a confession of the Norwegian authorities that it was uncomfortable to have Total as the biggest single investment in the Oil Fund”, says Marte Graff Jenssen, right, of NBC. The Committee considers it unacceptable that Norway is getting rich by means of the Oil Fund’s investments in Total, the fourth largest oil company in the world and the only big oil company that is working in Burma. Therefore, in April 2005 last year, it started, together with two other Norwegian civil society groups, a campaign with the message: Total out of Burma, or the Oil Fund out of Total. The campaign is part of an international campaign that aims to persuade Total to withdraw from Burma. It is coordinated by the British organisation Burma Campaign UK and is supported by 50 organisations in 20 countries. According to Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy, Total has become the main supporter of the Burmese military regime.
Ethical guidelines
For the Norwegian Oil Fund, a revaluation of a fund on non-financial grounds wouldn’t be an unusual step. The Fund was established in 1990 to manage Norwegian oil revenues and can be considered as the deposit account of the Norwegian state. Currently no less than 178 billion euro is on deposit, which makes the Norwegian state an important investor on the international financial market. But the Fund is obliged to act in accordance with certain ethical guidelines that require that it should not invest in companies that are involved in structural and serious human rights violations. For this reason the oil fund does not invest in companies like defence contractor like BAE Systems and Boeing.
, which has been campaigning against the Fund’s investments in Total because of its contested activities in the military-ruled Asian country, is pleased. ){kind=link}