Norwegian government excludes oil and gas explorers from wealth fund

The Norwegian government's proposal to exclude oil and gas explorers and producers from its trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund will affect 1.2 per cent of the fund's equity holdings, the fund said on Friday. "According to the FTSE's definition, the fund held exploration and production companies with an approximate value of 66 billion kroner ($7.50 billion) by the end of 2018," it said in a statement.

"This corresponds to 1.2 per cent of the fund's equity holdings." While the fund will exclude pure exploration and production firms, it is keeping integrated oil companies.