By Nora Buli
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian energy firm Equinor, which is majority state-owned, should stick to a plan of growing its renewable energy portfolio despite recent headwinds, the country’s prime minister said on Wednesday.
“I agree with him. Stick to your plan,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere of the centre-left Labour Party said when sharing the stage with Equinor CEO Anders Opedal at an energy conference in Oslo.
Opedal defended Equinor’s decision to maintain a 2030 ambition of sharply increasing its installed renewable capacity despite industry headwinds and poorer profit margins than for oil and gas investments.
“We’re sticking to it because this is a golden business opportunity,” Opedal told the conference.
The Norwegian government is Equinor’s largest shareholder, holding 67% of its stock, and some analysts have questioned Equinor’s plans, arguing they do not provide sufficient returns.
Equinor’s green investment plans have been seen as a contributing factor to a near 14% plunge to its share price since its strategy update last week.
Meanwhile, Stoere’s government continues to support oil and gas exploration while also seeking to build a greener industry around offshore wind, especially floating turbines, as well as batteries, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.
(Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)
