Oljefond-utvalg: Spekulerer i fransk hevn

In mid-October, the Gjedrem committee released its report on the ethical guidelines of the Oil Fund, focusing on how the Oil Fund should exercise ethics and the role of the Ethics Council. The committee highlighted examples of reactions to the Oil Fund's exclusions of various companies. In September 2025, the French mining company Eramet was excluded from the Oil Fund's investments.

The French state is one of the largest shareholders of the company. The Ethics Council believed the company should be excluded due to "an unacceptable risk of the company participating in or being responsible for serious environmental damage and grave violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples." The committee believes these actions may have resulted in significant consequences for Norway.

"The decision to exclude Eramet coincided with Norway actively working for the EEA/EFTA countries not to be subject to protective measures," the committee wrote in the report. In mid-November of the previous year, the EU Commission introduced tariffs on certain steel products, including blends of iron and metals used in the production of steel by many Norwegian companies.

Over 2,500 people work in this industry in Norway. "This is very serious," said the Norwegian Industry Association about the ruling. The Norwegian government worked hard to get Norway on the other side of the "tariff wall," but failed and ended up outside. France was one of the countries that supported this measure and thus voted for Norway to be excluded from the tariff wall.

The committee's report speculates on whether this was a consequence of the Oil Fund's exclusion of the French company Eramet. The committee cites evidence that the EU imposed protective measures against the import of steel products in the fall of 2025, including exemptions for EEA/EFTA countries, even though the Norwegian government actively campaigned for this.

"There are no clear reasons to suggest that the exclusion affected the French government's position, but the timing cannot be ruled out," the committee wrote in its investigation. The case of Ferrologering and the exclusion of American Caterpillar are also mentioned by the committee, which points out that they led to extensive reactions in the USA.

Nils Hermann Ranum, a consultant for the Revenue Fund, reacts to the Gjedrem committee's questions. He wrote on LinkedIn that such speculations do not belong in a NOU. He told E24 that it is "disturbing" that a public committee is accusing France of taking revenge while the committee says it has no clear reasons to believe this.

Speculating in this way is not the committee's job, and it should not be allowed, Ranum said. E24 has been in contact with the French embassy, which has no comment on this case. The committee's leader, Svein Gjedrem, has received criticism. He responded in a text message to E24: "We absolutely do not accuse anyone, but point out the timing."