Oslo taken to task over Gassled

Some of the world's biggest energy producers - including supermajors Shell, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips - have accused Norway of giving its own companies too much say in running the Gassled pipeline system that carries nearly all Norwegian gas to the UK and continental Europe.

The supermajors were joined by Total, Eni and Dong in filing a joint complaint to Norway's Petroleum & Energy Ministry about what they claim is the overly dominant role of StatoilHydro and state-run Petoro in Gassled. Industry-owned Gassled supplies some 15% of European Union natural gas needs through a 7800 kilometre pipeline system across the North Sea. It is operated by Gassco. The complaint, which seeks to gain more rights for minority investors to safeguard their interests, follows a unilateral decision by the ministry last month over how Gassled passes resolutions, a Reuters report said. The ministry made the decision itself because Gassled shareholders failed to find a compromise in the wake of Statoil's 2007 takeover of Norsk Hydro's oil and gas assets, which effectively increased the say of Norwegian state-controlled companies. "Majority state-owned StatoilHydro and fully state-owned Petoro together have control have about 70% of Gassled," an official from one of the foreign companies issuing the complaint on condition of anonymity. "For the rest of the owners, it is difficult to have any influence and that is not what we are used to in Norway." Unlike many other oil- and gas-rich countries which have succumbed to resource nationalism as energy prices soar, Norway prides itself on equal treatment of all market.
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