
Five decades of progress
Statoil, the Norwegian State petroleum company, was formed by a decision of the Norwegian parliament to be the government’s commercial instrument in the development of the oil and gas industry in Norway. Five decades later, this company has become the largest supplier of energy to Europe, a world-leading offshore operator, the largest oil and gas operator in Norway, and an international pioneer in renewables and low-carbon solutions. In 2018, they changed their name to Equinor.
Equinor ASA was listed in 2001, with a 67% majority stake owned by the Norwegian State. Today, it is a diverse company with a long-term strategy and development as a broad energy company in addition to reflecting their evolution and identity as a company for the generations to come. They have an ambition to be a leading company in the energy transition and to become a net-zero company by 2050, including emissions from production to final energy consumption. Today, they are evolving into a broad energy major, with a significant and growing renewables business.
There is an excellent lesson here for an opportunity that has long been available for New Zealand. Several Asian countries have used this model to grow their natural wealth, and New Zealand can’t afford to miss this opportunity any longer. This is a no-brainer and could easily be funded by the same of 100% government owned Pāmu (Landcorp Farming Limited).

Pāmu has huge assets (149,000 hectares of valuable land – including 84 individual farms) that continues to provide a very sub-optimal revenue stream to central government. Some say that this land is being held for “Treaty settlements”. I say sell it to fund a “Statiol” type wealth fund, so that all New Zealanders benefit.
Pāmu reported a $26 million Net Loss after Tax in 2024. There is no case to retain Pāmu’s farming enterprise. The Net Equity of $1.6 billion available needs addressing – and Oil & Gas seems a much better bet to me.
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