The oil portfolio was worth about $6 billion in 2019 and the last assets associated with oil production were sold off at the end of last year, Trond Grande, the fund’s deputy chief executive, told the Bloomberg news agency. Grande is a Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Norges Bank Investment Management – a section of Norway’s central bank and responsible for managing the fund.
The sell-off was decided after the fund revealed a roughly $10 billion loss on oil and gas holdings in contrast to record growth in earnings in other assets.
Towards the end of 2020, the fund recorded its second highest income figure in more than 20 years – its value rose by 1.07 trillion Norwegian crowns ($123 billion) or about 10.9 %,
NBIM had earlier announced its intention to abandon gas and oil assets – for decades the very backbone of the fund.
The fund still holds integrated oil companies, notably Royal Dutch Shell.
At the end of last year, the fund’s value reached 10.91 trillion crowns. Share investment accounted for 72.8 % of its investment portfolio, with bonds accounting for 24.7 % and real estate 2.5 %,
The Government Pension Fund Global was created in 1990. The fund currently holds about 1.5 % of all shares throughout the world. It holds shares in more than 9,200 companies from 74 countries. The largest part of its holdings is made up of shares from Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (the holding company for Google), Nestle and amazon.com.
