The Norwegian state has picked up a few more shares in the country’s energy champion and largest company StatoilHydro, and the Norwegian taxpayer now holds 67 percent in the company.

The government has now invested 19 billion kroner ($2.66 billion) over eight months buying up some 140 million shares. Some 16 brokerages were employed.

StatoilHydro’s oilfield holdings as far afield as Canada, the Gulf of Mexico and North Africa now mean that ordinary Norwegians own more of the reserves in those countries than the indigenous peoples themselves.

The Norwegian government said Thursday it was through buying shares in StatoilHydro for now, completing a pledge made when Statoil merged with Hydro’s oil and gas operation.

“For the government, this is a forward-looking investment about continued industrial development and value-creation,” an official communique said.

Tags: StatoilHydro