Native groups lobby fund

STANDING Rock Sioux tribe representatives were due to meet the ethics watchdog for Norway’s $915 billion (R11.38 trillion) sovereign wealth fund yesterday over a US oil pipeline, a watchdog official said. On Sunday, Norway’s largest bank, DNB, sold its share of loans funding the Dakota Access oil pipeline, ending its involvement in a project that has faced strong opposition from Native Americans and environmental groups. The pipeline will move crude oil from the US Northern Plains to the Midwest and then on to the Gulf of Mexico. Norway’s soverign wealth fund holds $248 million in bonds of Energy Transfer Partners, which is leading the pipeline project. – Reuters AFRICA