Norway
Norway's Statoil is the one major OECD-based European petroleum company to remain entirely
state-owned. Statoil's genesis is closely tied to the exploitation of North Sea petroleum; it was
founded shortly after the discovery of crude oil and natural gas in the North Sea. In recent years,
however, Statoil's focus has shifted beyond the North Sea. As a result of recent privatizations,
Statoil is currently pursuing exploration and development efforts in China, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Namibia, Nigeria, and Vietnam {see Endnote 31}. Statoil has recently expanded its retail gasoline efforts into such new markets as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and eastern Germany. Statoil
has also taken a 15-percent stake in a refinery in Malaysia, with the Malaysian state oil company,
Petronas, as its partner.