A majority of the Norwegian Parliament's Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs has asked the government to consider relegating ownership of Equinor to another department to avoid conflicts of interest, and the government has now heeded the advice, reports domestic media E24.

The state owns 67 percent of the oil company, which until now has filed under the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. This arrangement has been criticized because the same ministry processes cases and complaints for many issues in the oil and gas sector.

"We request that the government consider this, and [we] point out the unfortunate mixture of roles with the current business administration," said Norwegian MP and committee representative Freddy André Øvstegård. back in May.

Equinor's new placement in the Ministry of Trade and Industry is not unusual as such. Here, the state has already parked most of its ownership in state enterprises, which also include players such as Statkraft, Norsk Hydro and Yara.

English Edit: Daniel Frank Christensen

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