Equinor still has a billion invested in oil sand

Fox Creek project. Photo: Athabasca

Equinor still has a billion invested in oil sand

Two years after Equinor pulled out of Canadian oil sand projects, the company still has a shareholding worth a billion NOK in an oil sand company.

 

After having sold out of the oil sand projects in the Canadian province of Alberta, Equinor (Statoil) is no longer an operator for this kind of business. But lately, there have been questions raised in social media about the company’s continued involvement in oil sand, writes the industry site enerWE.

Equinor Communications Manager for International Business, Erik Haaland, says the company has a stake in the oil sand company Athabasca.

– These shares were part of the deal when we sold out of oil sand in 2016. We own 100 million shares, which equals just shy of 20 per cent of the shares in Athabasca. They are handled as a financial, not a strategic investment, says Haaland. He adds that these are the only oil sand shares that Equinor own.

Before the weekend, the Athabasca share was traded for 1.58 Canadian dollars, valuing Equinor’s shares at around NOK 1 billion.

Haaland also points out that Equinor is not involved in the operation of Athabasca and hasn’t got a seat on the board of directors.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today