DN reported Friday that leading local firm Aker ASA is writing off its investment in Aker Clean Carbon and may shut down the company, because of losses and no sign of improvement.
“The market is dead,” Aker chief executive Øyvind Eriksen told DN. “Therefore Aker Solutions is taking its investment as a loss.”
That’s a huge setback, not least to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s own high-profile carbon emission reduction plans. Eriksen said industrial efforts depend on support from government authorities, but it hasn’t materialized. Aker had hopes for business from Norwegian authorities at Statoil’s Mongstad facility, but it’s been delayed, and from British authorities at the Longannet power plan, but they backed out because of high costs.
Aker Clean Carbon was initially set up in 2007 and Aker even recruited the powerful state secretary at the time, Liv Monica Stubholt, to run it. Now the future for Stubholt and her 30 colleagues appears uncertain.
Read the entire article here
PS
This is just another example of what happens with companies that completely rely on government subsidies. When politicians have other priorities, "the market is dead".
“The market is dead,” Aker chief executive Øyvind Eriksen told DN. “Therefore Aker Solutions is taking its investment as a loss.”
That’s a huge setback, not least to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s own high-profile carbon emission reduction plans. Eriksen said industrial efforts depend on support from government authorities, but it hasn’t materialized. Aker had hopes for business from Norwegian authorities at Statoil’s Mongstad facility, but it’s been delayed, and from British authorities at the Longannet power plan, but they backed out because of high costs.
Aker Clean Carbon was initially set up in 2007 and Aker even recruited the powerful state secretary at the time, Liv Monica Stubholt, to run it. Now the future for Stubholt and her 30 colleagues appears uncertain.
Read the entire article here
PS
This is just another example of what happens with companies that completely rely on government subsidies. When politicians have other priorities, "the market is dead".
"Now the future for Stubholt and her 30 colleagues appears uncertain."
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame.