London | The Norwegian government has recommended that the country's $US1 trillion ($1.4 trillion) wealth fund sell its holdings in a group of companies that focus on finding and producing oil and gas.

The decision, the result of a two-year review of the giant fund's investments in fossil fuels, is a compromise that stops short of divestment in major energy companies like Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell. But the fund's activities are closely watched, and the move seems likely to increase concern among investors about the risks of holding such stocks.