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large investor
has accused the Norwegian government of intentionally "burning"
foreign investors while protecting Statoil, the largely state-owned national
oil company.
In December
2012, Oslo's previous centre-left government unveiled a plan to slash the
tariffs that Gassled, the country's undersea gas pipeline network, can charge
for transporting fuel, by up to 90 per cent from 2016.
The ruling came
just 18 months after Statoil sold a large stake in the 7,975km pipeline
network, one of a series of deals that resulted in control of the operation
passing to a swath of institutional investors and energy companies from across
Europe, North America and the Middle East.
The decision
was ratified by the current centre-right government in December 2013. This
prompted some investors in Gassled, who claim NKr120bn ($16bn) in combined
revenue and investments are at risk, to sue the Norwegian government.
The episode has
prompted some unusually strong criticism of Norway, generally viewed as among
the most transparent and stable of countries.
"This was
quite shocking to a lot of investors; 20 to 30 very large international
investors signed a letter [to the ministry of petroleum and energy] in which
they said that they thought this was an extremely troubling event," one
investor said.
"[It was a
case of] let's let the national champion get out first then we will flog it to
a bunch of international investors and let them get burnt. I think the timing
was pretty suspicious. The tariff regime had not changed for 40 years, then it
changed a year and a half after Statoil exited its investment, so I think you
have to draw your own conclusion."
The Norwegian
government said at the time that the tariff cut was designed to encourage gas
exploration and development in the Norwegian Sea and south Barents Sea, while
also ensuring a "reasonable" profit for investors in Gassled.
The network
processes and transports 96 per cent of the gas extracted from the Norwegian
continental shelf and provides 20 per cent of the gas consumed in the EU. As
well as Norway it supplies gas to the UK, Germany, France and Belgium.
Statoil said at
the time of the sale that it wanted to sharpen its focus on exploration and
production, which generate the group's highest returns on investment. It
retained a 5 per cent stake in order to maintain some influence over the
network.
Fellow oil
majors ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell also sold smaller stakes in the
facility.
Gassled is the
type of supposedly safe, reliable, long-term infrastructure asset increasingly
targeted by large investors as they seek to diversify their portfolios and earn
a higher yield than that available from investment-grade government bonds.
The investor
added: "The situation changed overnight and that is not what we want from
our infrastructure investments. It did not engender a huge amount of faith in
Norwegian gas transparency or in terms of creating the right investment
infrastructure for international investors.
"The
fundamental risk of investing [in Norway] has changed [and] I am not sure the
Norwegian government is bothered about it. They are saying 'the projects are
here, you need us more than we need you'."
The court case
is due to be heard by the Oslo District Court in April 2015. The Norwegian
petroleum and energy ministry declined to comment, pending the legal
proceedings.