Posted on 01/05/2006 5:06:34 AM PST by Kurt_Hectic
Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen has dropped seven companies from the investments list of the State Pension Fund, severing ties between the Petroleum Fund and Boeing.
From Jan. 1 the State Pension Fund was established as a superstructure including the massive state petroleum fund and the social security fund. This new fund is divided into two parts, foreign investments previously made via the Petroleum Fund, and domestic investments previously called the Social Security Fund.
At an Oslo press conference on Thursday Halvorsen presented the list of companies that will be dropped by the State Pension Fund: BAE Systems Plc, Boeing Co., Finmeccanica Sp.A., Honeywell International Inc., Northrop Grumman Corp., Safran SA and United Technologies Corp.
The companies have been excluded because they either develop or contribute to the production of nuclear arms. The decision comes after advice from the Petroleum Fund's Advisory Council on Ethics.
"According to Norges Bank the Petroleum Fund previously invested a total of nearly NOK 3.3 billion (USD 492 million) in these companies, partly in shares and partly in obligations," the Finance Ministry said.
Oil and gas company Total had been investigated for its activities in Burma, but the Ethics council did not find that the firm contributed to the human rights violations in Burma.
Related stories: Petroleum fund second largest - 21.12.2005 State increases stake in weapons - 24.11.2005 May drop tobacco shares - 31.10.2005 Dubious links for Petroleum Fund - 30.08.2005 Petroleum Fund up 94 billion - 23.08.2005 Petroleum Fund keeps growing - 19.05.2005 Petroleum fund invests in alcohol - 18.05.2005 Fund ethics now in focus - 09.03.2005
I'm tempted to call my bank and invest all I got on Boeing now...
Silly Norwegians... I wonder if they're going to invest all their money in some non-profit, environmental outfits. If they're that determined to lose their pension fund, it might as well go directly to helping promote saving the whales.... or something.
(And yes... The whales remark was intentional.)
Simply amazing. What hypocrites. Thought you might enjoy this from the Divestterror.org web site:
Statoil ASA
Although, to our knowledge, the Norwegian energy giant, Statoil ASA, has ties to only one terrorist-sponsoring state, Iran, the dubious nature of those activities merits investor concern.
Statoil's operations in Iran are focused on the country's $2.6 billion South Pars gas field. In coordination with Iran's Petropars, Statoil is developing offshore Phases 6-8 of the South Pars field and holds a 40 percent stake in those projects. The company reportedly plans to invest as much as $300 million in the $2.6 billion South Pars gas field over the coming four years.1
Of greater concern is Statoil's agreement to pay Horton Investments, an Iranian investment firm, $15.2 million as part of an effort to advance its business interests in Iran. In 2003, this agreement became the source of an intense government investigation that led to a raid on Statoil's offices. The basis for the controversy was Horton's ties to Mehdi Hashemi, son of former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who works at the National Iranian Oil Company. Statoil was investigated for potential bribery and corruption charges. Although the contract was eventually canceled (after $5.2 million had already been transferred to Horton, however), the scandal led to the resignation of Statoil's CEO and other senior officials.2
Statoil's activities place it on the "Dirty Dozen" list for the following reasons:
Geopolitical Motives: Statoil describes its investment in Iran as "in line with Norwegian foreign policy, which encourages increased trade relations with Iran."3 Not only was the company willing to ignore Iran's position as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, but the company views its operations as directly supporting a government position that undermines the U.S. war on terrorism.
Revenues: Statoil is involved in projects totaling over $300 million in Iran. This translates into both increased revenue flows for an extremely dangerous, terrorist-sponsoring regime and serves as an engine for broader economic growth.
Moral and Political Cover: When leading global companies such as Statoil partner with terrorist-sponsoring states, it sends a clear message to these governments: Sponsoring terrorism is fine as long as our company makes a profit. This message undermines U.S. sanctions and international diplomatic efforts. This message is reinforced when a firm allegedly seeks to bribe leading Iranian officials for contracts in that country.
add hydro to you list.
Yet, our minister of finance is calling for a boycott of Israel...
Yet in norway, the norwegian oil-gigants puts a spin on it so they always come out clean. They see themselves as the best business-partners for russian, asian and african interests 'cause they are sooo honest and environmently concerned...
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