Lövin’s secret game before Preem Clima’s decision

After months of debate and discussion, the Preem oil company is withdrawing its application for an expansion of its oil refinery on the outskirts of Lysekil.

The decision was a flash of a clear autumn sky.

But in the office of Climate Minister Isabella Lövin, only the timing is surprising.

Email to Preem: “Well if you cheer me up”

Since August, the Secretary of State for the Minister of Climate Affairs, Isabella Lövin, Eva Svedling, has had at least two meetings with the new CEO of Preem, Magnus Heimburg, former CFO of Perstorp Holding AB.

On September 11, Eva Svedling sends one of several September emails to Magnus Heimburg, asking the oil company to “support” the Green Party investment.

“Hello again! More good news, good news if you dare (after publication, of course): tonight at 9:00 p.m., an investment in government credit guarantees for large investments in Sweden is presented, contributing achievement of the targets of the environmental target system and the climate policy framework 50 billion in three years!

Coming like I said at 21 tonight, in DI.

Please,

Eva “

Magnus Heimburg, who took over as CEO of Preem in August, responds the same day:

“Hello Eva,

Thanks for the very positive message. I hope I can study the proposal in more detail.

To be honest

Magnus “

Preem obeys the call of the Secretary of State and will be interviewed on September 18 in an article by Dagens industri. There, Mattias Backmark, head of investor relations at Preem, says that this is “clearly an interesting investment” and that “it is good that biofuels are mentioned as one of the most important areas”.

The 9/11 email between Preem and the Secretary of State is just one of several emails between the two since Heimburg took over as CEO.

“Important Preem for Transition”

Eva Svedling tells Expressen that she doesn’t usually email advance budget information to companies.

– This is information just before it was published and communicated. However, this is not information about what might or might not reach them.

Why do you want an oil group to support one of your budget proposals?

– Because they are important for the transition. Our policy aims to change, says Svedling.

Do you frequently email investment information in your budget to selected individuals?

– No, this was because we touched on this issue in the conversations, because they asked that question and noticed that we have specifically pursued it.

Has Preem said that if you introduce green loan guarantees, they will withdraw your application?

– Absolutely not.

Preem CEO Magnus Heimburg submits a response through the company’s press manager, who writes that Preem welcomes open and constructive dialogue, and that:

“… Our correspondence with the government has been a natural part of the political process.”

On September 10, the day before the email on credit guarantees, the Lövin Secretary of State sends by email the information that Per Bolund will submit a reduction obligation the following day, at 08.15 on P1.

The CEO of Preem responds by thanking for a tip.

Lövin knew about the dialogue with Preem

Isabella Lövin writes on Twitter that the reason Preem withdrew her application is partly due to the government’s decision on a more ambitious reduction obligation and subsidies for fuel production.

Exactly the two issues that your Secretary of State emailed to the CEO of Preem.

Lövin writes in an SMS to Expressen that they have meetings with companies to understand the challenges that companies see in their climate change.

She knew about the dialogue Eva Svedling had with the CEO of Preem.

“Preem has never made demands on the Green Party. We follow policies to prevent a climate crisis.“

When asked if it is not perceived that the Green Party is in the lap of an oil company, the minister responds:

“The Green Party wants a ban on fossil fuels. I think everyone understands that the interests of the oil companies are quite far from going. We have other parties that do that.“

“Valuable to see”

On September 8, Preem’s CEO and Isabella Lövin’s Secretary of State met for a meeting at the ministry. The meeting was at the initiative of Preem and after a week of reflection, the Secretary of State responds:

Hi Magnus!

It would be valuable to see him to discuss possible ways forward. There is a gap in my calendar this week on Thursday, I hope you can come here for a meeting; du plus in. Works? From our side I come as well as a TMJ from the Ministry of the Environment ”.

The meeting ended. The meeting memorandum only states that the schedule was discussed and that Preem spoke about his plan for socially important activities in a sustainable future.

However, the Secretary of State has had at least one more meeting with the new CEO of Preem.

Two meetings with the CEO of Preem

Expressen has requested to take note of the meeting notes from all the meetings the Prime Minister’s Secretary of State has had with representatives of Preem.

We only received information about a single meeting, on September 8 between Eva Svedling and Magnus Heimburg.

But from the email conversation that was delivered to Expressen, it appears that Preem CEO Magnus Heimburg and Eva Svedling also met in late August:

“Hello Eva,

Thank you very much for the meeting this week.

The meeting was valuable to me personally but also to Preem in general. As a social actor and a large employer, it is essential that Preem maintains a good and trustworthy dialogue with the government in order to carry out an activity that is in tune with social development ”.

There are no meeting notes for that meeting.

CEO of Preem: “switch to renewable energy”

In an interview with Ekot, Preem CEO Magnus Heimburg justifies the decision to scrap plans for a refinery expansion by saying that Preem “will accelerate this transition to renewable fuel production.”

The Preem board made the decision Sunday. In practice, this means that the company is now withdrawing its application, which was pending with the government, where it was sent from the Supreme Court of Lands and Environment for review.

– For me, it feels great to be able to present this decision today, Heimburg tells Ekot.

At the same time, DN revealed on Monday that the profitability of oil company Preem has fallen dramatically in the last three years, partly due to falling oil prices, and that the company turned to the Swedish Tax Agency for help. .