One of the world’s largest oil companies, Statoil, is scrubbing the word “oil” from its name to reflect a growing focus on renewable energy. The new name will be Equinor.
“The world is changing, and so is Statoil,” said Board Chair Jon Reinhardsen in a Thursday morning
statement. “The biggest transition our modern-day energy systems have ever seen is underway, and we aim to be at the forefront of this development.”
The new name combines “equi,” the starting point for words like equality and equilibrium, and “nor,” reflecting its Norwegian origin, the company explained. Reinhardsen added that this new name supports the “high value and low carbon strategy we outlined last year.”
Norway’s state-controlled oil company
had announced it would triple or quadruple investment in clean energy by 2030. It already operates the
worlds first floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Scotland.
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Statoil CEO Eldar Saetre
acknowledged in 2017 that “a peak in oil demand” is coming, probably between the mid-2020s and the mid-2030s, and eventually oil “will be a shrinking business.”
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