From the shares purchased by DnB NOR on behalf of Statoil (OSE:STL, NYSE:STO) on 15 August 2005 for use in the group’s share saving plan, 68,348 shares have on 18 August 2005 been distributed to the employees in accordance with their savings amount. Following this, the share saving plan has 540,232 shares.
When Statoil was listed in 2001, 25 million shares were established for use in a bonus programme aimed at small shareholders. The number of unused shares remaining as of 16 August 2005 is 23,441,885. These shares are recorded in the share register as Statoil's own shares, but they cannot be used by the company without the approval of the annual general meeting.