CSOs address letter to Aker BP and Aker ASA, claiming terms of Lundin Energy’s acquisition do not meet international human rights standards
Summary
Date Reported: 25 Mar 2022
Location: Location unknown
Companies
Aker ASA , Aker BP , Lundin Energy (formerly Lundin Petroleum)Affected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Issues
Deaths , Killings , Rape & sexual abuse , Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) , Security Issues & Conflict Zones , OECD Guidelines , Ownership of Property & Possessions , DisplacementResponse
Response sought: Yes, by CSOs
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Aker BP responded that "It is Lundin Energy's oil and gas activities on the Norwegian continental shelf that are being taken over by Aker BP through the proposed Combination, while all potential liabilities related to the Sudan legal case will remain with Lundin Energy. "
Source type: Open letter
25 March 2022
Dear Mr. Røkke, Mr. Eriksen and Mr. Hersvik, Many thanks for the occasion to discuss the acquisition by Aker BP of Lundin Energy’s oil and gas assets with Mr. Hersvik and other Directors of your companies. We are writing to further clarify our concerns about potential liabilities arising from the announced merger between Aker BP and Lundin Energy. These liabilities arise from the credible allegations of contributions by Lundin Energy (previously Lundin Oil AB) to gross and systematic human rights violations, committed during the company’s operations in what was then Sudan between 1997 and 2003.
Lundin Energy executives Ian Lundin and Alex Schneiter were indicted on 11 November 2021 by the Swedish public prosecutor for complicity in international atrocity crimes. The prosecutor charges that Ian Lundin and Alexandre Schneiter intentionally promoted (“främjade”) military operations carried out by the Sudanese military forces and Government-allied militias in order to create the conditions for the company’s oil operations, despite substantial reports demonstrating that Sudanese military forces and allied militias systematically perpetrated human rights abuses, including grave war crimes. The criminal charges are entirely due to the executives’ roles within the company at the time.1 The prosecutor has presented evidence that Lundin Energy regularly provided logistical and material support to abusive armed forces...
...Lundin Energy’s Norwegian assets are directly linked to the company’s alleged criminal activities. According to Lundin Energy’s third quarter financial report from 2003, the profit derived from the sales of its Sudan operations enabled the purchase of assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, which marked the start of Lundin Energy’s operations in Norway...
...Victims publicly claimed their right to remedy and reparation from Lundin Energy in 2016.6 However, they have not received a response to this day. The survivors of war crimes and other human rights violations that Lundin Energy allegedly enabled will continue to claim the rights to remedy and reparations from whomever can be held responsible for inheriting the legacy of Lundin Energy, including Aker BP and the members of its Board of Directors...
...Victims will continue to make their claim that Lundin Energy has ongoing and unremediated impacts to address. The acquisition creates a direct link between Aker BP, the alleged crimes, and the charges against Lundin Energy. A rigorous human rights due diligence process and meaningful engagement with the relevant stakeholders – in this case the victims of war crimes that Lundin Energy allegedly enabled – should therefore be carried out...
...The terms of Aker BP’s acquisition risks contributing to Lundin Energy’s continued attempts to avoid its responsibilities...