Helge Lund
 Helge Lund    (businessman, management consultant) | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 16 October 1962 Oslo, Norway |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Alma mater | Norwegian School of Economics, INSEAD |
| Member of | BP/Board, European Round Table of Industrialists, International Crisis Group/Board |
Helge Lund is a Norwegian businessman who is chairman of British Petroleum since January 2019. He is the former CEO of Statoil, the Norwegian state oil company, from 2004-2014, where he was responsible for the most expensive misinvestment in Norwegian history. He attended the Bilderberg for the first time in 2019, listed as a UK delegate.
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Career
He started his career as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company and as political adviser for the Conservative Party in the Norwegian parliament, before starting work for pharma company Hafslund Nycomed in 1993, where soon he became vice president, before starting work in Aker RGI in 1999 as vice president before becoming CEO for the merged Aker Kværner in 2002.
After Olav Fjell withdrew as CEO of Statoil in 2004, Lund took over and was retained after Statoil merged with the oil & gas division of Norsk Hydro to create StatoilHydro.
On 15 October 2014, Lund resigned as CEO for Statoil, to join the management team in the British oil company BG Group, as CEO from 9 February 2015. On 1 December 2014, in response to pressure from shareholders, BG Group reduced a £12 million share award 'golden hello' for Lund to between £4.7 million and £10.6 million, depending on the company's future performance. His basic salary would be £1.5 million, but with bonuses, total compensation could reach £14 million per annum.
Following the takeover of BG Group by Royal Dutch Shell, Lund was out of a job, but did receive a total of £5.5 million for his 11 months work, and £9.7 million in shares in February 2016, as a result of the takeover.
In June 2016, Lund was appointed to the board of directors of Schlumberger. On 26 April 2018, it was announced by British Petroleum that he would join their board on the 1 September 2018 and succeed Carl-Henric Svanberg as chairman with effect from 1 January 2019.
Statoil misinvestments
Lund was CEO of Statoil from 2004-14. For the entire period 2001-2016, Statoil's investments in exploration and recovery amounted to NOK 1100 billion. The distribution was NOK 483 billion (very approx. $46 billion) on the Norwegian oil sector, compared with NOK 576 billion ($55 billion)) abroad. While investments are thus distributed at 46 per cent on the Norwegian continental shelf and 54 per cent abroad, as much as 99 per cent of the profits come from the Norwegian continental shelf, while one per cent comes from Statoil's foreign operations.[1]
Some analysts have described it as the most expensive failure in Norwegian history[2].
Guantanamo infrastructure
In 2005,when Helge Lund was CEO, Amnesty International questioned Aker Kvaerner's involvement in the US concentration camp at Guantanamo. Aker Kvaerner's wholly owned subsidiary Kvaerner Process Services Inc. (KPSI) provided power, water and maintenance services to the Guantanamo military camp from the mid-1990s. The company had about 500 employees there and had contracts with the US government of NOK 100-200 million annually. Norwegian journalist Erling Borgen made a documentary claiming that Aker Kvaerner's construction equipment must have been used to build the cells of the prisoners at Guantanamo. It is also alleged that Aker Kvaerner also maintained equipment that may have been used for water torture (waterboarding) and sound torture.
KPSI's contract for work on the Guantanamo base expired in 2005, and the company's work on the base finally ended in early 2006. KPSI has since closed.
In the newspaper Dagbladet, Tuesday, February 6, 2007, it was alleged that KPSI, together with the American oil company Willbros, supplied fuel to the aircraft used to transport the prisoners to and from Guantanamo. These are the so-called "CIA torture planes" which are used to transport prisoners between the countries they have been taken from, countries that carry out torture, and the prison camp at Guantanamo. The contracts for KPSI's work on the base indicate that KPSI had also committed to supply fuel.
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/2019 | 30 May 2019 | 2 June 2019 | Switzerland Montreux | The 67th Bilderberg Meeting |
| Munich Security Conference/2024 | 16 February 2024 | 18 February 2024 | Germany Munich Bavaria | Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects |
| WEF/Annual Meeting/2011 | 26 January 2011 | 30 January 2011 | World Economic Forum Switzerland | 2230 guests in Davos, with the theme: "Shared Norms for the New Reality". |
