Norway Orders Review of Israeli Companies Held in $1.9 Trillion Oil Fund
Norway's ministry of finance, headed by former North Atlantic Treaty Organization chief Jens Stoltenberg, has written to the country's central bank and the oil fund's ethics council to review the investments and provide an assessment within 15 days of any measures that are deemed necessary.
'In light of the deteriorating situation in the West Bank and Gaza, and the fact that questions have been raised about the fund's individual investments, the Ministry of Finance wants a renewed review of the investments in Israeli companies,' it said in a statement.
The wealth fund is managed by Norway's central bank, but decisions to exclude companies from the portfolio are made based on recommendations from an ethics council appointed by the ministry of finance. The council's job is to scrutinize investments to ensure they comply with a strict set of ethical guidelines.
Following an ethics council recommendation late last year, the oil fund sold out of Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq over concerns the company could be contributing to human-rights violations as it provides services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Bezeq didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest move to seek a full review of the oil fund's Israeli investments comes after Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported earlier this week that the fund had increased its investment in Bet Shemesh Engines over the last couple of years—a company it claims maintains fighter jets used in the Gaza offensive.
Bet Shemesh Engines didn't respond to a request for comment. The company states on its website that it works with the Israeli military.
The fund held a 2.1% stake in the company, valued at $15.2 million at the end of 2024. That marks a sharp increase from the $3.6 million valuation at the end of 2023, after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel that started the war.
Nicolai Tangen, chief executive of the oil fund, said in an interview Tuesday with Norwegian national broadcaster NRK that an investment in Bet Shemesh Engines was made in 2023 and that the stake has increased since then.
He said the fund has a mandate to invest in Israel, but decisions on investments in individual companies is up to the ethics council.
'Being invested in Israel is a political question, it is not a decision we make in the oil fund,' he said. 'We must have a very clear division of roles here, and we carry out the mandate that we have.'
The fund is currently invested in around 65 Israeli companies.
The oil fund was set up in the 1990s to convert Norway's vast oil wealth to global financial assets, partly to shield the country's budget from oil-price fluctuations. It has a stake in more than 9,000 companies globally, equivalent to holding 1.5% of every listed company in the world.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com
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