Statoil gets apology for oil sands smear

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STAVANGER, Norway, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Norwegian oil company Statoil said it received an apology from a broadcaster for using incorrect images of tar sands operations in a report.

Statoil said a May broadcast by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp., known by its Norwegian initials NRK, used images of opencast mining in a feature on the company's operations in Canadian oil sands fields.

The company said the issue was "particularly serious" because corporate logos were edited in with images of open mining operations, giving the impression that activity was part of Statoil's operations in Canada. The broadcaster, said Statoil, was "obviously negligent."

The company announced it received an on-air apology from the broadcaster.

"Statoil does not produce oil sands through mining and using these images in such a context was therefore incorrect and contrary to NRK's code of ethics, based, e.g., on the principle of caution," the on-air statement read. "NRK apologizes."

Statoil said the apology settles the issue. The company began working in oil sands operations in Canada in 2011.