The shares purchased by DnB NOR on behalf of Statoil (OSE:STL, NYSE:STO) on 15 March 2006 for use in the group’s share saving plan have on 21 March 2006 been distributed to the employees in accordance with their savings amount. Following this, the share saving plan has 885,249 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 22 March 2006 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.