Following the defeat of a shareholder motion that demanded the Norwegian energy firm to leave Alberta's oilsands by Statoil ASA, this was the topic most highlighted at the Company's annual meeting held on Wednesday.

The meeting lasted for four hours in Stavanger, Norway. In an interview, Truls Gulowsen, with Greenpeace Nordic stated that although Statoil does not have a very firm image “into the tar sands” but still this theme was the most dominating one in the annual general assembly of the Company.

The failure of shareholder motion occurred when 98.62% of Statoil shareholders denied motion proposed by Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund, which wanted the Company to close their activity of developing the oilsands.

But this defeat has not upset the environmental groups, as they are optimistic and are saying that they received 10 % more votes that they received last year and that they have been backed by number of investment funds who managed to make the issue a point of focus throughout the meeting.

It is known that the Norwegian government controls about two-thirds of Statoil shares. In the meeting Investors holding some 25 million shares withdrew from the vote. Earlier also 15% of BP PLC shareholders preferred abstained from the motion.

Statoil Chief Executive, Helge Lund accepted that oilsands were a contentious investment. He admitted that there prevail certain “dilemmas” that they are trying to resolve.