Disappointed with Angola’s New Responses from Oil Minister Tina Bru – E24

– Disappointing and significant, says committee leader Andersen after the Storting’s constitution and control committee received new Angolan responses this week from Oil and Energy Minister Tina Bru (H).

The case began earlier this fall, when Aftenbladet / E24 through several articles highlighted Equinor’s gigantic payments for social contributions in Angola and the partnership with a company from the infamous “88 Queensway Group” network.

Between 2012 and 2016, Equinor transferred NOK 420 million to a research center that has yet to be built and paid around NOK 290 million to indefinite social projects without the right to see what the money was used for.

Not discussed in owners meetings

A few days later, the Storting Constitution and Control Committee sent a letter to Tina Bru to obtain an answer on what had happened in the Angola case since it was last a topic in the media and in the Storting in 2016.

The committee was not satisfied with the first responses that came in, and committee chair Dag Terje Andersen thought it important to find out whether ministers from the Ministry of Oil and Energy had followed the case well enough. Therefore, five new questions were submitted.

In Tina Bru’s response, which was sent out this week, it appears that the Angola case was not discussed in the ownership meetings with Equinor during 2019 or 2020 before the control committee asked questions about the E24 cases.

“During the period covered by the question, former Minister Freiberg, former Minister Listhaug or I have not discussed the company’s activities in Angola at the owners meetings,” Bru writes in the letter.

– Excuses to be passive

It also appears that the matter has not been a topic or object of evaluation at Equinor’s general meetings.

– I think that’s special. This is disappointing and significant because there has been little commitment from the political side to follow up on what happened in 2016, Andersen says after new responses.

In both letters to the committee, Bru uses considerable space to explain the role of the state as owner. An important principle has been that there should be an arm’s length distance between the ownership state and Equinor.

– Bru does not use the principles of the exercise of ownership as a framework for being an active owner, but as an excuse to be passive, believes Andersen.

– We should be in order, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be active. It was also the basis for the last questions that were sent, he adds.

Various Equinor Surveys

The Control and Constitution Commission will discuss the matter again when it meets next Tuesday. At the same time, the Energy and Environment Committee is investigating Equinor’s US fashion, while the Auditor General’s Office is working to review Equinor’s overseas activities.

– We will coordinate with these other surveys. So it’s currently unclear what will happen next, says Andersen.

Bru’s letter also indicates that he has not been in contact with his Angolan colleague, the Minister of Oil and Resources, Diamantino Pedro Azevedo.

“I am not aware that Equinor fund payments for social purposes in Angola have been collected with the Angolan authorities by former oil and energy ministers,” Bru wrote.

New plans

However, the Norwegian ambassador to Angola raised the Equinor case in June.

Subsequently, according to Bru’s letter, the embassy received an invitation to join an inspection of the site where the research center will be located.

After nearly ten years with no concrete news on progress, Sonangol first arrived with details about the plans in a letter to E24 in September.

Sonangol stated in the letter that construction of the research center will begin in 2021 and that the center will be operational in 2023. Sonangol does not yet have an overview of what it will cost.

Equinor has repeatedly told E24 that the Angolan state oil company Sonangol is responsible for executing the projects that Equinor has helped finance.

They note that the payments are not considered to be in conflict with relevant anti-corruption legislation. Equinor also says they gave “comprehensive statements on the issue to the MPE in 2016 in relation to the issue that was on the agenda then.”

– Since then, we have regularly followed up on the case with Sonangol both in writing and in meetings to ensure that its contractual obligations are met. We note that Sonangol now signals the start of construction in 2021 and we will continue to demand progress on the case, Erik Haaland, spokesperson for Equinor’s international operations told E24.