Dutch pension fund excludes PetroChina from fund over Sudan

January 18, 2008 (AMSTERDAM) — Dutch pension fund PGGM said it would exclude PetroChina from its 88 billion euro ($129 billion) fund because of the Chinese oil firm’s activities in Sudan and that country’s human rights record.

International experts say some 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million made homeless by the 4-1/2-year-old conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, although Sudan’s government says that figure is greatly exaggerated.

Two Sudanese, one a government official, have been indicted for genocide by the U.N.-backed international criminal court, based in the Hague.

PGGM, the Netherlands’ second-largest fund, said it decided to stop investing in PetroChina after talks with the company on the subject failed to produce any change of heart.

It had 37 million euros ($54.23 million) invested in PetroChina, owned by top Chinese oil and gas firm China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), a PGGM spokesman said.

PGGM also said it was excluding four other firms from its fund because they make or trade in weapons of mass destruction. Last week, Norway excluded three companies from its $380 billion oil fund on ethical grounds.

(Reuters)