June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Statoil ASA, Norway's biggest oil company, may be cleared of bribery allegations that prompted a nine-month police inquiry and caused three top officials to quit, said investors including Peter Warren of Euronordic in Oslo.

An independent inquiry commissioned by Statoil has already cleared the Stavanger, Norway-based company and any individuals of corruption. Norway's financial-crimes police, named Oekokrim, reports its findings tomorrow on allegations the company used a $15 million consulting contract to bribe Iranian officials.

``I would be surprised if the police didn't'' come to the same conclusion as the company's inquiry, said Warren, chief investment officer of Euronordic Kapitalforvaltning, which manages a 2 billion-krone ($292 million) hedge fund including Statoil shares. ``There's been some smoke but not a full blaze.''

Since the probe began, Statoil shares have outperformed those of peers including BP Plc and Total SA and surged to a record, as rising oil and gas prices lifted profit from operations to its highest ever in the first quarter. Statoil is seeking new fields abroad as oil fields in Norway mature, leading the company to invest in places from Angola to Venezuela.

Since the police raided Statoil's offices on Sept. 11, Statoil shares have gained 34 percent, more than a 14 percent increase for France's Total and a 22 percent gain by the Standard & Poor's Integrated Oil & Gas Index. It reached a record 95 kroner on April 13 and now trades at 90 kroner. The Norwegian state owns 82 percent of the shares.

``Statoil is one of the companies that's most sensitive to changes in the oil price, and this has contributed to good results,'' said Arnstein Wigestrand, an analyst at Enskilda Securities in Oslo. ``It's clear the market appreciates how the company has been run and has faith in its strategy.''

Decision Tomorrow

Oekokrim plans to reveal its findings at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Statoil may be fined if found guilty of corruption. Any individual found guilty of the same crime may also be jailed.

Created by the government in 1972 to tap Norway's newly discovered North Sea oil fields, Statoil has spread its operations to 28 countries including Azerbaijan and Angola, ranked among the world's most corrupt by the watchdog Transparency International.

Domestic fields that have started to run dry and fewer large finds in Norway have spurred Statoil and Norsk Hydro ASA, its largest domestic competitor, to seek growth abroad. In 2002, Statoil became operator of Iran's South Pars project, the world's biggest natural-gas field without oil. It opened an office in Tehran the year before.

The company in March said the probe won't change its goal to get as much as 40 percent of its oil and gas abroad by 2012, four times the current level.

`A Mistake'

``A continued international focus is essential to their growth,'' said Per Egeland, who manages the equivalent of $2.1 billion at Nordea Fondene in Oslo, including shares in Statoil. In Iran, ``they made a mistake that should now be behind them.''

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is also probing the bribery charges, which prompted the resignations in September of Olav Fjell, 53, as chief executive and Leif Terje Loeddesoel, 69, as chairman.

Statoil's effort to regain its credibility included a new management. In November, it hired Jannik Lindbaek, 65, as chairman, whose background includes work against corruption as chairman of the Norwegian arm of Transparency International. The company in March named Helge Lund, 41, formerly head of Aker Kvaerner ASA, to take over as CEO as of Aug. 15.

`Ethical Borderland'

When he quit, Fjell, now an adviser at the Oslo-based brokerage First Securities ASA, said he'd entered ``an ethical borderland'' in Iran. He denied he did anything illegal as chief executive.

Statoil said it received advice from Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, the son of Iran's former president and the head of a unit of state-run National Iranian Oil Co., under a consulting contract with Horton Investment. Abbas Yazdi, an Iranian national, owned Horton.

Statoil has said it paid $5.2 million through a Swiss bank to Horton's bank account in the Caribbean island of Turks and Caicos. Statoil, which ended the contract when the police inquiry began, has said it doesn't know who ultimately got the money.

An independent investigation commissioned by Statoil's board and conducted by the lawyer Erik Keiserud earlier this month cleared the company and any individuals of the bribery charges.

Keiserud, who had access to Oekokrim's files on the Horton agreement from mid-May, said his investigation included meetings with Iranian officials and a brief meeting with Rafsanjani. A second meeting with Rafsanjani was canceled, he said.

``I don't think this matter is of much importance to the financial markets any more,'' Warren said. ``Investors are carnivores for profit and recognize that Statoil is a good, solid, well-run company. It would take a lot more for investors to shy away.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Bunny Nooryani in Oslo at bnooryani@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 28, 2004 06:24 EDT