Norway's parliament approves up to 33% public offering of Statoil

As expected, the Norwegian parliament voted Thursday to sell up to 33% of Statoil AS, the government-owned oil company, through a stock offering that could occur as early as June. Before then, Statoil will be allowed to acquire 15% of the state�s holdings in North Sea oil and gas assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, officials said.

April 26, 2001

2 min read

Sam Fletcher
OGJ Online

HOUSTON, Apr. 26 -- As expected, the Norwegian parliament voted Thursday to sell up to 33% of Statoil AS, the government-owned oil company, through a stock offering that could occur as early as June.

Before then, Statoil will be allowed to acquire 15% of the state�s holdings in North Sea oil and gas assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, officials said.

It�s all part of a long-pending move to commercialize the government entity that controls Norway�s oil and gas interests.

Earlier this month, a cross-party parliament committee reached a compromise agreement to recommend the sale of a third of Statoil and up to 21.5% of the state�s direct financial interest in offshore oil and gas operations (OGJ, Apr. 23, 2001, p. 26). That committee also recommended offering 6.5% of the state�s oil and gas holdings to Norsk Hydro AS and foreign operators, up from 5% originally, in addition to the 15% to be bought by Statoil.

Under the compromise agreement, the remaining 78.5% of the state�s oil and gas assets will be placed under a new state-owned limited company that is to create value through its management of those assets, with costs and revenues channeled through the government budget.

Once Statoil acquires its share of the government holdings and makes its public offering, officials said, it may seek �cross-shareholdings� with strategic foreign partners. The Gaz de France Group and Ruhrgas AG in Germany have been mentioned as likely candidates. However, some analysts say the partial privatization of Gaz de France could interfere.

This initial move toward Statoil�s privatization is far short of CEO Olav Fjell�s earlier vision of a fully private company with �caretaker� control of the former state-owned assets, which would allow it the full freedom to compete internationally.

Fjell sat through the 4-hour debate of the issue in parliament Thursday. Afterward, he said, �This is a historic day for Statoil.�

Once the public offering of Statoil stock is made, Fjell said, �I do not believe that the working day will be much different than before. But we will probably notice that closer attention will be paid to our operations.�

Olav Akselsen, Norway�s minister for petroleum and energy, described it as a �milestone in Norwegian petroleum history.� He said, �The government believes that this is an important step for Statoil�s future development and its potential value creation.�

Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected]