Labor veteran in Angola case: – Serious – E24

– I think that the Storting’s constitution and control committee should take up this matter again.

Here’s what Labor Party veteran Martin Kolberg says after reading the Stavanger Aftenblad / E24 cases about Equinor’s payments to Angolan state oil company Sonangol:

• A planned research center, to which Equinor contributed NOK 420 million, does not yet exist, almost ten years after the first transfers. Sonangol writes in a statement to E24 that they have ambitions to start construction next year, but do not know how much it will cost. The company claims to be in possession of the money.
• E24 investigations show that Sonangol has not taken into account commitments of several hundred million crowns for the research center. Sonangol has not answered E24’s repeated questions about this.
• E24 has also received confirmation that Equinor does not know what NOK 295 million has been used for, which they transferred to Sonangol for indefinite “social projects”. Equinor’s contract signed with Sonangol in 2011 does not give Equinor the right to demand access to how the money is spent. Sonangol has not responded to E24’s questions about social projects.

– As is the case today, I would characterize it as serious. It is serious for Equinor, but so much for the Ministry of Oil and Energy (MPE), says Kolberg.

_{* Equinor changed its name from Statoil in May 2018. For the sake of simplicity, this article uses the Equinor company name.}

– Equinor should go alone

Kolberg was chairman of the Storting’s constitution and control committee when Equinor’s payments to Angola were in the limelight of the media and politicians in the winter of 2016.

Kolberg and the committee sent several letters to then-Minister of Oil and Energy, Tord Lien (Frp), with questions about what Equinor had actually agreed to and where the money had gone.

– The development in the case documents that all the questions and the commitment that the control committee had were well founded, and shows that the answers we received when the case was processed, today are insufficient for the realities of the case, he says.

Just over NKr 700 million, which Equinor has paid to both a research center and a social fund, cannot be satisfactorily accounted for after nine years. Equinor should now go only in view of the answers they have given previously in this case.

– What are you aiming for here?

– They must clearly say that they have a problem, considering the guidelines that they must be guaranteed that the money does not go to corruption.

– What do you think the control committee should do?

– Based on the history of the case, and as it appears now, it is necessary that the Control and Constitution Commission take up the case. Last time, the ministry previewed Equinor’s response in its relationship with the committee and from what I can see the ministry has not followed up on the case at a later date.

Application review

Kolberg also believes that the Ministry of Oil and Energy on its own initiative should review the case.

– Either the provisions on property management are not strict enough or the practice of the ministry is not satisfactory to ensure that the money is not used for corruption.

Both Equinor’s own experts and four law firms that Equinor has hired have previously evaluated the payments made to Angola. Their conclusion, which emerged in a letter from Equinor to the MPE in February 2016, was that the payments did not violate corruption laws in Norway, Angola, England or the United States.

Ecocrime asked Equinor about the case, but did not open an investigation.

– Definitely not good enough

Lars Haltbrekken, SV parliamentary representative, believes that both this case, the revelations by Dagens Næringsliv about culture and the giant sales in the United States, and the news about the problems in the Peregrino field in Brazil, show the need to go through all Equinor’s foreign investment.

– We have to obtain a statement from the Minister, who must obtain information from Equinor. We hope that Equinor will review these cases and that the Ministry will present a full report to the Storting. We will take the initiative to do so, says Haltbrekken.

Haltbrekken believes that the Angola case shows “the problem of having a state company that operates with fossil energy in areas with high risk of corruption.”

– But is there broad agreement that Equinor should also be able to operate in countries that are less transparent than Norway?

– There are indications that they have not done well enough, when Equinor is not able to answer adequately when the research center will be built, if it will be built, and cannot answer the almost 300 million crowns that have been spent on social measures . , but it only targets Sonangol, says Haltbrekken.

– Definitely not good enough for a state company, where equality is quickly established between the company and the Norwegian state. We must be more careful, he says.

Equinor: – In accordance with the law

Erik Haaland, a spokesman for Equinor’s international operations, told E24 that Equinor “has reported annually and openly reported on payments in Angola, which helps civil society hold authorities accountable.”

– All payments are in accordance with current legislation, and the responsibility for the implementation of the projects rests with Sonangol, says Haaland.

In addition, it notes that Equinor 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, Haaland says.

– Will discuss the matter in a meeting.

The Minister of Oil and Energy, Tina Bru (H), points out that the questions about Equinor’s social contribution in Angola were “thoroughly reviewed when the Control and Constitution Commission raised the matter in 2016.”

– The case raised both questions of principle about the division of responsibilities and work between the ministry as owner and the company, as well as specific questions related to payments, which were answered by the ministry and Equinor, says Bru.

It also notes that there have been no “new payments in the case” since 2016.

The payments in question were part of Equinor’s contractual obligations when it received new exploration licenses in Angola in 2011. The payments, totaling NOK 715 million to the research center, social projects and staff training, were made annually up to on January 1, 2016.

“Equinor has reported that the company has followed up with Sonangol and the Angolan authorities, and has requested information on progress in the completion of the research and technology center,” says Bru.

According to the oil and energy minister, the ministry has had regular dialogue with Equinor on the follow-up, and the matter has been a topic in property meetings between the acting ministers and the Equinor board chairman.

– I will also raise the issue in a meeting I will have this fall on Equinor’s international activities, says Bru.

– Regarding the requirement that individual projects at Equinor must be thoroughly reviewed by the ministry and the Storting, I would like to emphasize that the MPE exercises the state’s property policy, as it has been anchored in various reports to the Storting and a vast majority in the Storting, he says.