Putting Policies into Practice: Examining Statoil's Policies and Relations with Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian and Venezuelan Oil Sands

As global demand for energy pushes the frontiers of extraction to unconventional deposits in sensitive locations, questions loom over what firms should be entrusted to exploit these resources. The Norwegian firm Statoil is in a unique position as it posit ions itself as an alternative to the non-state owned oil companies. The aim of my study is to identify how recent changes in Statoil's ownership structure and international strategy have influenced the firm's practices abroad. I will particularly investig ate the evolution of Statoil's consultation practices and relationship with impacted indigenous peoples. Has the partial privatization of Statoil led to changes in its social mandate? Since the 1990s, Statoil has embarked on an ambitious internationaliz ation strategy. This strategy has led to Statoil acquiring assets in the Albertan and Venezuelan oil sands, for which the firm has been sharply criticized both at home and abroad. The first part of my study will involve a research stay in Norway to learn more about the history of the firm and to gather data on the evolution of Statoil's policies towards indigenous peoples and what conditions in Norway have influenced those policies. Afterwards I plan to examine Statoil's social policies in practice in the Canadian and Venezuelan oil sands, two of the world's largest oil deposits. Given the different regulatory environments in these countries, do Statoil's practices change when the firm is operating in Canada or in other parts of the world? I plan to car ry out a comparative study, drawing on research from Norway, Canada, and Venezuela. In Norway, I will collect data primarily through document analysis and semi-structured interviews with individuals with ties to the government, oil companies, environmenta l groups, indigenous rights organizations and academia. The project has important implications for best practices in corporate policies and government regulations with regards to indigenous peoples.