The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s $1.9 trillion oil fund, cut its equity stakes in the biggest international oil and gas companies in the first half of the year as oil prices fell.
Government Pension Fund Global, which is commonly referred to as ‘Norway’s oil fund’ because it was created with oil and gas revenues, is a shareholder in many large companies in the world, including Big Oil.
Government Pension Fund Global, as the Norwegian fund is officially known, trimmed its stake in Exxon to 1.32% as of June 30, from 1.46% as of the end of December 2024, according to data in the fund’s half-year report published on Tuesday.
The stake in Exxon was worth $6.12 billion as of June 30.
The Norwegian fund also reduced its holding in Shell to 2.55%, worth $5.3 billion on June 30, from 2.78% held at the end of 2024.
Government Pension Fund Global trimmed its stakes in BP – to 3.15% worth $2.5 billion, TotalEnergies – to 1.49% worth $2.1 billion as of June 30, and in Chevron – to 1.07% worth $2.7 billion.
Energy accounted for 2.9% of the fund’s equity investments in the first half of the year, showed the report from fund’s manager, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM).
Between January and June, the fund’s investments returned 5.7%, or 0.05 percentage point less than the return on the benchmark index.
The equity investments in the energy sector returned 6.3% in the first half of the year.
“The financials, telecoms and utilities sectors produced the highest returns. Political decisions, especially in the US, led to increased uncertainty and considerable volatility in fixed-income markets,” the fund’s management said.
The Norwegian fund was created in the 1990s and the government started transferring revenues from Norway’s oil and gas industry into the fund in 1996. Since then, the fund has invested in equities and fixed income globally, raising its value with the returns.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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