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Norway’s Statoil resoundingly rejects anti-oilsands resolution at AGM
News Articles | The Canadian Press | Lauren Krugel | May 19, 2010
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Statoil ASA may have resoundingly defeated a shareholder motion demanding the Norwegian energy firm leave Alberta’s oilsands, but the topic was a central theme at the company’s annual meeting Wednesday.
“Statoil only has a minor, minor foot into the tar sands, but the issue totally dominated its annual general assembly,” said Truls Gulowsen, with Greenpeace Nordic, in an interview following the four-hour meeting in Stavanger, Norway.
About 98.62 per cent of Statoil shareholders rejected a motion put forward by Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund demanding the company stop developing the oilsands.
But the environmental groups still hailed the results as a success, saying they received 10 times as many votes as they did last year, won the support of a number of investment funds and made the issue the meeting’s focus. Investors holding some 25 million shares abstained from the vote.
“I think we’re seeing clear evidence that the more information was said about the consequences of the tar sands industry, the more the opposition grows,” said Gulowsen.
Statoil chief executive Helge Lund acknowledged to shareholders the oilsands are a contentious investment.
“It’s correct that the resources are technologically demanding and there are several very difficult dilemmas that we’re working very, very hard to resolve indeed,” he said.
“At the same time it is such that these resources are an important part of the future energy supply and there’s strong growth ahead in the demand for energy… All analyses indicate that fossil fuel will continue to be the most important energy source for many decades to come.”
Statoil is constructing a demonstration project called Leismer in Alberta’s Athabasca region. The 10,000-barrel-per-day first phase is set to start up late this year or early next year.
Lund noted the Leismer project — like many in the oilsands — uses steam-assisted gravity drainage, or SAGD, technology to draw the oil from underground, instead of the open-pit mining technique that has drawn the most international scorn.
SAGD projects have a much smaller surface footprint than mines, but greenhouse gas emissions and water use are still concerns.
Representatives from aboriginal groups in northeastern Alberta travelled to Norway to tell Statoil shareholders how the oilsands are affecting their communities.
“What you do with your money is your business. But when you begin to spend your money in my territory that disrupts and destroys our way of life, our civilization, then that becomes my business,” said Francois Paulette, a former chief and spiritual leader of the Dene people, who live 240 kilometres downstream from the oilsands region.
George Poitras with the Mikisew Cree First Nation told the meeting that his community has been experiencing abnormally high rates of rare and aggressive cancers.
“When is the company of Statoil going to quit misleading its shareholders and Norwegians generally about the true on-the-ground impacts?” he asked.
Other shareholders say they’re worried about how Statoil’s involvement in the oilsands is affecting the reputation of Norway, which owns two-thirds of the company.
But some investors told the meeting they support Statoil’s participation in the oilsands, since it provides a plentiful, secure energy supply at a time when demand for fossil fuels is growing rapidly.
“I believe that we should commend Statoil for doing a proper job internationally. This is not only a black and white picture that we have to look at only the dark side,” said one longtime oil industry worker, garnering applause from the audience.
Tagged with: greenpeace, statoil, norway, wwf, shareholders
