Eivind Kristofer Reiten (born 2 April 1953) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

economist,

corporate officer Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit or ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

for the Centre Party. He served as Minister of Fisheries from 1985-1986 and

Minister of Petroleum and Energy The Minister of Petroleum and Energy ( no, Olje- og energiministeren) is a councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The current minister is Terje Aasland. The ministry is responsible for the government's ene ...

from 1989-1990, before entering a career in business. Reiten served as the Director General (CEO) of

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world an ...

between 2001 and 2009, after which he took up the chairmanship of

Norske Skog Norske Skog ASA, formerly Norske Skogindustrier ASA, which translates as ''Norwegian Forest Industries'', is a Norwegian pulp and paper company established in 1962. The company has long been one of the world's leading manufacturers of newsprint ...

. Eivind Reiten was also Chairman of

StatoilHydro Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. ...

for four days until he resigned from his position after

had been accused of corruption.

Political career

Reiten was born in

Midsund Midsund is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was part of the Romsdal region. The administrative centre was the village of Midsund on Otrøya island. Other settlements on the island included Uglvik and Raknes in the ...

as the son of Kristofer Reiten, a farmer and fisher, and housewife Kjellaug Opstad. He enrolled as a student in 1972, and graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1978 with a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in economics. He worked as a civil servant from 1979 to 1982, and as a secretary for the Centre Party from 1982 to 1983. He was then brought into the government as state secretary to the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1983 to 1985. He then became Minister of Fisheries from 1985 to 1986 as part of the

Second cabinet Willoch Willoch's Second Cabinet was a majority, centre-right government consisting of the Conservative, Centre, Christian Democratic parties. It succeeded the Conservative First cabinet Willoch in mid-term to secure a majority, right-winged government, a ...

, and

from 1989 to 1990 as part of

Cabinet Syse Syse's Cabinet was a minority centre-right Conservative, Centre, Christian Democrat Government of Norway. It succeeded the Labour Second cabinet Brundtland after the 1989 election, and sat between 16 October 1989 and 3 November 1990. It was rep ...

.. Retrieved on 6 December 2008. In his last political position, he was responsible for the deregulation of the electricity market in Norway. Having chaired the

Centre Youth The Centre Youth (''Senterungdommen'' or SUL) is the youth organization of the Norwegian Centre Party. Hence, they advocate decentralisation and stress their opposition of the European Union. Leaders * Torleik Svelle (2019–present) * Ada Arns ...

, the youth wing of the Centre Party, from 1979 to 1981, he served as a deputy representative to the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

from 1985 to 1989.

Business career

Reiten started working for

in 1988, heading the energy division from that year, and becoming senior vice president of special projects in 1991. From 1992 he led the refining and marketing division, and from 1998 the aluminum division. He was appointed executive vice president for light metals in 1999. He succeeded

Egil Myklebust Egil Myklebust (born 9 June 1942) is a Norwegian businessperson and lawyer. Since 2001 he has been chairman of the board of SAS Group. Born in Kvinnherad, Myklebust took a law degree from the University of Oslo in 1967, before starting work w ...

as chief executive officer in 2001. He was a member of the board of the

Bank of Norway Norges Bank / Noregs Bank is the central bank of Norway. The bank shall promote economic stability in Norway. Norges Bank also manages the Government Pension Fund of Norway and the bank’s own foreign exchange reserves. History The history of ...

from 1991 to 1994 and

industrier from 1997 to 2000, and has chaired the board of

Norway Post Posten Norge () is the name of the Norwegian postal service. The company, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications had a monopoly until 2016 on distribution of letters weighing less than 50g throughout the country. There ...

(1996–1999) and

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...

(2000–2001). He has attended the Bilderberg meetings. He is a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences ( no, Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi, NTVA) is a learned society based in Trondheim, Norway. Founded in 1955, the academy has about 500 members. It is a member of the International Council of Aca ...

Libya corruption case

As part of the merger between

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

and the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro, Reiten was appointed

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

of the merged

that merged on 1 October 2007. Four days later Reiten withdrew from the seat. The reason was that it was uncertain whether or not he knew about a corruption case Hydro had been accused of, where a

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

n consulting company and the consultant Abdurrazag Gammudi had been paid , used to make bribes, after the Hydro take-over of

Saga Petroleum Saga Petroleum ASA was a Norwegian upstream petroleum company established in 1972 that was acquired by Norsk Hydro in 1999. In October 2007 it was made part of Statoil. The company was the only fully private oil company in Norway. It had partial ...

in 1999. Stated Reiten, it was in no-one's interest that he retain a conflict of interest by retaining the seat of chair in the company that would investigate himself. The case had arisen on 26 September, after a Hydro employee had leaked information about the matter; it had not been identified as part of the

due diligence Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. It can be a l ...

performed by Statoil prior to the merger. He was replaced by his deputy,

Marit Arnstad Marit Arnstad (born 4 May 1962) is a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Centre Party. She is currently the party’s parliamentary leader since 2014, having previously held the office from 2003 to 2005. Arnstad was the Norwegian Minister of ...

, who is also a former Minister of Petroleum and Energy from the Centre Party. The investigation from StatoilHydro concluded that Reiten was informed about this during 2000 and 2001, while the investigation in Norsk Hydro concluded that Reiten did not know about the corruption. Since the Norsk Hydro investigation—that included checking 1.5 million documents—could not show that Reiten knew about the corruption, Hydro Chairman Terje Vareberg confirmed that Reiten would not be removed from his position. However, two executives of StatoilHydro were required to leave immediately.

Leaving Norsk Hydro

In January 2009 Reiten announced that he was stepping down as Chief Executive of Norsk Hydro from 30 March 2009, with executive vice president Svein Richard Brandtzæg taking over. Reiten has since been nominated to replace Kim Wahl as Chairman of

at the company's annual general meeting in April 2009.

Personal life

Reiten is married and has two children. He resides in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiten, Eivind Kristofer 1953 births Living people University of Oslo alumni Norwegian businesspeople Norsk Hydro people People in the petroleum industry Norske Skog people Norwegian state secretaries Government ministers of Norway Petroleum and energy ministers of Norway Centre Party (Norway) politicians Deputy members of the Storting Møre og Romsdal politicians Members of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences