Private company

history of Statoil

Logo: http://www.statoil.se/file_archive/om_statoil/SvenskaStatoilAB_2004.pdf, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia³

Aspect of history based in Stavanger¹

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Jul 14, 1972Founded¹

Industrypetroleum industry¹
HeadquartersStavanger¹

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Statoil ASA was a Norwegian petroleum company established in 1972. It merged with the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro in 2007 and was known as StatoilHydro until 2009, when the name was changed back to Statoil ASA. The brand Statoil was retained as a chain of fuel stations owned by StatoilHydro. Statoil was the largest petroleum company in the Nordic countries. In the 2013 Fortune 500, Statoil was ranked as the 39th -largest company in the world. While Statoil was listed on both the Oslo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, the Norwegian state still held majority ownership, with 64%. The company's headquarters are located in Norway's oil capital Stavanger. The name Statoil was a truncated form of the State's oil (company).²

The story

Early years

Den Norske Stats Oljeselskap A/S (Norwegian State Oil Company) was founded as a private limited company owned by the Government of Norway on 14 July 1972 by a unanimous act passed by the Storting, the Norwegian parliament. The political motivation was Norwegian participation in the oil industry on the continental shelf and to build up Norwegian competency within the petroleum industry to establish the foundations of a domestic petroleum industry. Statoil was required to discuss important issues with the Minister of Industry, later Minister of Petroleum and Energy. Statoil was also required to submit an annual report to the parliament.

In 1973, the company started work acquiring a presence in the petrochemical industry. This resulted in the development of processing plants in Rafsnes and, in partnership with Norsk Hydro, the Mongstad plant in 1980. In 1981 the company acquired, as the first Norwegian company, operator rights on the Norwegian continental shelf on the Gullfaks field. 1987–88 saw the largest scandal in the companies history, the Mongstad scandal that made the until then unassailable CEO Arve Johnsen withdraw. In 1990, Statoil was one of several oil companies operating in the North Sea to be affected by a labor strike, which involved about 4,000 workers in total.

Privatization

The company was privatised and made a public limited company (allmennaksjeselskap) in 2001, becoming listed on both the Oslo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. At the same time it changed its name to Statoil ASA.

Merger with Hydro

In December 2006 Statoil revealed a proposal to merge with the oil business of Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian conglomerate. Under the rules of the EEA the proposal was approved by the European Union on 3 May 2007 and by the Norwegian Parliament on 8 June 2007. Former Statoil's shareholders hold 67.3% of the new company StatoilHydro, which started operations on 1 October 2007. The company is the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the world.

In November 2009, StatoilHydro changed its name to simply Statoil, following a prolonged name debate that sparked considerable public interest.

From Wikipedia’s article on History of Statoil (1972–2007), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Controversies and legal

Controversy and corruption

Rotvoll controversy

In 1991 there arose a controversy between Statoil and local environmentalists, mainly from Natur og Ungdom and Friends of the Earth Norway, who protested the building of a new research and development centre at Rotvoll in Trondheim, Norway, wetlands area close to the city with significant bird life. The controversy was climaxed with civil disobedience by the environmentalists, but the centre was still built.

Statoil corruption case

The Statoil corruption case refers to the company's misconduct and use of corruption in Iran in 2002/2003 in an attempt to secure lucrative oil contracts in that country. This was mainly achieved by hiring the services of Horton Investments, an Iranian consultancy firm owned by Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Horton Investments was paid US$15.2 million by Statoil to influence important political figures in Iran to grant oil contracts to Statoil. The corruption scandal was uncovered by Norwegian paper Dagens Næringsliv on 3 September 2003.