Norway’s November Oil and Gas Output Tops Forecast

Statfjord field off Norway (Credit: Harald Pettersen/Equinor)

Norway's combined oil and gas production beat an official forecast by 0.9% in November, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said on Tuesday.

Norway is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas and a major producer of oil, but output varies from month to month depending on maintenance needs and other stoppages at close to 100 offshore fields.

Overall oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas output stood at 0.694 million standard cubic metres per day in November, equivalent to 4.37 million barrels of oil equivalent, an increase of 0.9% year-on-year.

Natural gas production in November eased to 361.5 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 361.6 mcm a year earlier, beating a forecast of 354.1 mcm by 2.1%, the regulator said on its website.

Crude oil output rose to 1.88 million barrels per day (bpd) for the month from 1.73 million bpd one year earlier, and came in above a forecast of 1.80 million bpd, NOD's preliminary data showed.

But the total oil liquids output, which includes crude as well as condensates and natural gas liquids, lagged the NOD's forecast by 0.5%, the data showed.

(Reuters - Reporting by Nora Buli, Editing by Essi Lehto)