New record value for the Petroleum Fund – E24

Displays the unofficial counter on the fund’s website.

The rise occurs, among other things, after a weakening of the crown. A weaker crown increases the value of the fund’s crown.

The value of the fund fluctuates according to world exchange rates and stock exchanges, and can vary greatly from day to day.

In February, the value of the Oil Fund exceeded for the first time 10.8 billion. But in March, the crisis of the crown arrived and it gave a real blow to the markets.

The unrest in the markets also led to a suitable roller coaster for the Petroleum Fund:

• At its worst in March, the fund’s value dropped to around NOK 9.3 trillion, after the stock market crash around the world.
• Two days later, the fund’s value had risen to $ 10.5 trillion, following dramatic currency movements that brought the krone to its weakest levels.

Many stimulants

Since then, the crown crisis has devastated many economies, while several central banks have cut interest rates and many countries have spent huge sums to maintain economic activity and avoid an all-out crisis.

This stimulus has helped keep equity markets up as the Oil Fund remains largely above NKr 10 billion. Now, the weakness of the crown and the rise in equity markets have helped lift the fund to a new record value.

On Thursday, the fund broke the February level by a good margin. At most, the fund amounted to NOK 10.840 billion.

Tangen’s First Report

Earlier on Thursday, the Petroleum Fund released figures for the third quarter of the year, showing a yield of 4.3 percent, corresponding to NOK 412 billion.

The fund underperformed in the first half of the year, but by the end of the third quarter it had recovered what it had lost after the crown crisis. At the end of September, the fund had a total positive return of NOK 224 billion this year.

– Financial markets continued to be characterized by uncertainty related to the coronavirus. However, the stock markets posted good returns in the quarter. In particular, the recovery was driven by US technology companies, Petroleum Fund CEO Nicolai Tangen said in a statement on Thursday.