Norwegian sovereign wealth funds will spend years selling energy stocks

Yngve Slyngstad, Norway's biggest trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund chief executive, said on Tuesday that even with a policy of cutting energy-sector investment, the fund could spend five years reducing its investment. The world's largest sovereign wealth fund proposed this month to exclude oil and gas companies from their index stocks, which means cutting investment in such businesses for some time. The policy must first be reviewed by the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Finance has indicated that it will give its opinion in autumn 2018. If the ministry of finance supports the proposal, the parliament may vote as soon as June 2019. Yngve Slyngstad said it will take several years for the sovereign funds to complete the sale. "Generally, our transitional period will take two to three years and five years depending on the issue," he told reporters on Tuesday. "The fund will also invest in oil stocks for many years."