Støre felt "uneasy" when he read about the oil fund's Israel investments.
By derimot*no - Jan Christensen - August 16, 2025
Some time ago, Dagsrevyen had a report from the West Bank. An Israeli settler had evicted a Palestinian family and occupied the house.
Oil funds, morality and managers
By Jan Christensen
By what right? – If I don’t take the house, someone else will, he replied. He did not accept that the action – by our standards – was both illegal and morally reprehensible. After all, he belonged to the “gentlemen’s people”. Everything was permitted.
Some of the same thinking seems to be behind the recent revelations about the Oil Fund. If we don't invest in war crimes and genocide, others will. Why can't we just as well earn the money, instead of everyone else?
We who only own a little here and a little there, who distribute the profits to the entire Norwegian people, and who even have our own ethics council as a watchdog?
The main purpose of the Oil Fund is to ensure long-term management of our oil and gas resources so that the wealth benefits both current and future generations. The highest possible return is central. To achieve this goal, the fund uses a number of highly paid stockbrokers, managers. They decide which shares to buy and sell.
What such a manager earns is secret and largely depends on results. Bonuses as a reward for "profitable" investments can triple the salary.
For so-called external managers, that is, hired consultants, there are no limits. The bonus can go to the sky. The Oil Fund has 700 employees. More than 7 billion is paid out in salaries and bonuses annually. Last year, almost half of this went to around a hundred external managers.
The Oil Fund is the largest European investor in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Now almost 23 billion kroner, a 16-fold increase in twenty years. Indirectly even more. Recently it became known that the Oil Fund's investments in Israel are managed by the Israelis themselves. What ethics do these managers have? Same as the aforementioned settler?
But why care as long as the Norwegian people make money? And as long as our own oil fund manager has built his personal billion-dollar fortune on risk, speculation and the same dubious ethics!
For oil fund manager Tangen , good years for the Oil Fund are a feather in his cap. This meant that he was able to extend his term of office, and it makes it even more legitimate for Norwegian politicians to spend up to 3% of the fund's value annually to strengthen the state budget ("the action rule").
With 20,000 oil fund billions on the books, that means 600 billion. Or that a quarter of the expenses in the state budget can be sourced from abroad. This gives room for welfare reforms, but also for tax breaks and more weapons for Ukraine. Now parts of the fund's profits are threatened. Not because LO and "Free Trade Union Movement" had long ago sounded the alarm, but because Prime Minister Støre felt "uneasy" when he read about it in Aftenposten.
Yesterday, Finance Minister Stoltenberg chose to override both the Ethics Council and Tangen. Investments in 11 of over 60 Israeli companies became too difficult to defend. These are now to be sold, based on a vague "appropriateness" - and not in violation of guidelines.
Or as Stoltenberg said in yesterday's Dagsrevy: That it was a point in itself to reduce risk and simplify management. Oil Fund Manager Tangen does not take criticism for the fact that Israel investments are part of the Oil Fund's portfolio. Including Israel was not his responsibility. It was a decision made higher up. By the same politicians who are now warning against politicizing the fund.
Many have demanded that the Oil Fund must completely divest itself of companies that are involved in occupation, war crimes and human rights violations. Regardless of country and industry. Another requirement is that companies in "border countries", that is, companies that may be complicit, must be approved in advance of any investments. The requirements are important, but should be unnecessary. Should just be missing. Yet they have repeatedly been given the thumbs down by our political majority.
Israel is a war nation , based on occupation, apartheid and dehumanization. Not a single penny of our oil wealth must be invested in companies that contribute to such a policy. Therefore, the Oil Fund must be withdrawn from all Israeli companies! The USA is Israel's powerful supporter. Here, where half of our Oil Fund funds are invested, a sharp sell-off must be made!
When Russia began its "special operation" in Ukraine, the Oil Fund sold out in a flash. Why haven't the investments in Israel been met with the same swift reaction?
As long as the Oil Fund has maximum return as its main goal, maximum secrecy and managers without moral restraints are the way to short-term success. The less the Norwegian people know how the money is made, the better. The fact that the investments may contribute to us having no future generations to spend the money on has never been an issue.
If we want an oil fund that promotes peace and development, both abroad and at home, the fund's objective must be changed. Contributing to a better and fairer world becomes a primary goal, profit a secondary goal. This way we get rid of both "star managers" and ethics boards. The managers are no longer paid in the millions, but work based on values other than personal enrichment.
Is such idealism possible in today's world where many do like Peer Gynt: Protesting for an entire world, but willingly following along on the journey? Where solidarity and human dignity are prioritized after profit and personal happiness? Or can a spark still light a prairie fire and a drop still burst a pond?
Cover image AI-generated
The text represents the author's opinion, not necessarily that of www.derimot.no.
Jan Christensen
