OSLO, (Reuters) – Norway’s sovereign wealth fund lost 5.4 percent on its investments in the second quarter as its core holding of BP shares halved in value and other stocks also fell, Europe’s largest equity investor reported yesterday.
The fund also said only oil majors have the capacity to improve environmental safety standards after the Gulf of Mexico spill and said it was seeking a wider effort by the oil industry in that regard.
Thanks to a weak crown and fresh transfers of oil revenues, the total value of the fund rose, standing at 2.79 trillion Norwegian crowns ($454.8 billion) on June 30 from 2.76 trillion at the end of the first quarter.
The largest stock loser in the portfolio was BP, said Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive officer of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund.
“We’ve had more than 1 percent of our stock holdings invested in BP and this share halved in value during the second quarter,” he told a press conference. “That is to say a fall from 18.9 billion crowns to 10.6 billion.”
The investment vehicle — the world’s second largest wealth fund behind that of the United Arab Emirates — “slightly increased” its investment in BP from 1.7 percent of the company’s stock portfolio at the beginning of 2010.
