October 14th, 2013:
Shell images file
Norway orders review of $790 bln wealth fund
“Continued investment in companies like Shell or Eni simply means that the Norwegian pension fund is investing in a dirty business and looking for more dirty money,”…
Reuters | OSLO October 14, 2013 Last Updated at 19:54 ISTBy Balazs Koranyi
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway has ordered a review of its $790 billion wealth fund, one of the world’s biggest investors whose largesse helps underpin Norway’s generous social benefits, responding to concerns that the fund is unwieldy and its returns too low.
The government also in a regular review of the fund’s investment ethics ordered it to sell stakes in several companies due to ethical issues and expressed concern over investments in oil companies Royal Dutch Shell and Eni .
SHELL TO SEA TENDER FOR IRISH OIL & GAS REVIEW
Shell to Sea also gave an undertaking in the tender that it would “not be bribed, swayed or unduly influenced by the oil and gas giantsâ€
News release – Issued by Shell to Sea
Monday 14th October 2013
SHELL TO SEA TENDER FOR OIL & GAS REVIEW
Shell to Sea have today submitted a tender application to the Department of Energy in response to Minister Pat Rabbitte’s call for expert advice to review the generous oil and gas terms that are currently on offer to oil & gas companies.[1]
The Shell to Sea tender undertakes to “initiate the most thorough, far-reaching inquiry yet into the fiscal regime governing resource extraction in Ireland, taking all voices into consideration and evaluating all available dataâ€. Shell to Sea stated that it would build on the work that had been published in its in-depth 44 page report entitled Liquid Assets, in which the 69 publically known prospects and discoveries were analysed. This report showed that energy companies estimate the potential fields could contain 21 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Norway’s $790 bln fund to exclude 5 from investment list
The government has also asked the fund to include oil spills and environmental conditions in the Niger Delta as a consideration, but it did not put Royal Dutch Shell and Eni on observation, despite the recommendation of its Ethics Council.
Oct 14 (Reuters) – Norway’s government has barred its $790 billion oil fund from investing in five companies due to ethical issues and placed another two on observation for environmental issues, the finance ministry said on Monday.
The fund, one of the world’s largest investors, will not be allowed to invest in WTK Holdings Berhad, Ta Ann Holdings Berhad, Zijin Mining Group, Volcan Compania Minera and Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd .
The government has also asked the fund to include oil spills and environmental conditions in the Niger Delta as a consideration, but it did not put Royal Dutch Shell and Eni on observation, despite the recommendation of its Ethics Council.
Yes, Putin’s a brute, but it’s Greenpeace who are the biggest menace to our future
Of course, Greenpeace would never stoop to blackening the name of its opponents, would it? Or exaggerating? Or even making things up — all in the noble cause of ‘saving the planet’?
By Dominic Lawson: PUBLISHED: 23:01, 13 October 2013
Greenpeace, the world’s biggest and most battle-hardened environmental campaigning organisation, is in a state of shock.
Last week, Russian investigators said that they had found ‘narcotic substances’ on board Arctic Sunrise, the Greenpeace vessel they seized after its crew had used it in an attempt to storm an oil rig of the state-controlled firm Gazprom. They added that the drugs included poppy straw, an ingredient for opiates.