Content area
Full Text
Olav Fjell has bowed to two weeks of mounting pressure and resigned as chief executive of Norway's Statoil, making him the third executive casualty of a controversy surrounding the company's business practices in Iran.
The controversy centers on a now-revoked $15.2 million consultancy contract with Horton Investment, an offshore company understood to have links to the son of former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The announcement of Fjell's departure came after a marathon nine- hour meeting of Statoil's board at Oslo, which ran into the early hours of Tuesday morning. "The board of directors of Statoil and Olav Fjell have agreed that Mr. Fjell will resign as chief executive in order to normalize the group's position, both in-house and externally," the company said in a statement. "It is important that a calmer atmosphere be established as quickly as possible in relation to the group, so that Statoil's development can continue."
"Of course this is sad, it's been a sad day for me," Fjell told reporters after leaving the meeting. "I would have gladly stayed on as Statoil's chief executive."
The debate on Fjell's position split Statoil's board straight down the middle, with the four directors who had called for the meeting -- Stein...