Norway's January Gas Production Exceeds Forecasts. Oil in Line with Expectations

Nerijus Adomaitis

February 17, 2021

Johan Sverdrup (Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland/Equinor)

Norway’s preliminary natural gas output exceeded official forecasts, while oil production was in line with expectations, data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) showed on Tuesday.

Crude oil output slipped 0.6% from December to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in January but was 9.1% more than in the same month a year ago.

The Equinor-operated Johan Sverdrup oilfield has ramped up its output throughout 2020 to 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in December, despite nationwide production cuts, which expired at the end-2020.

The daily output of natural gas in January was at 335 million cubic meters, exceeding the NPD’s forecast by 4.1%, but broadly in line compared with the same month a year ago. 

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Gwladys Fouche)