Norway gas output to rise in 2024, oil seen down, official forecast shows

Aker ASA

11/01/2024 09:00

By Nerijus Adomaitis
       OSLO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Norway's daily natural gas
production is set to rise by 3% in 2024, while oil output is
expected to decline by a similar volume, the Norwegian Offshore
Directorate (NOD) said in its annual forecasts on Thursday.
    Norway in 2022 overtook Russia as Europe's biggest gas
supplier as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine severed decades-long
energy ties. The Nordic country also partly replaced Russian oil
barrels banned by the European Union.
    The combined daily oil and gas output was set to remain
steady at 4.01 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed)
this year, with gas production expected at 2.06 million boed and
oil at 1.95 million boed, the NOD forecasts showed.   
    "The Norwegian continental shelf will be very important for
energy security in Europe for many years to come. Due to high
development activity, oil and gas production is expected to be
stable in the coming years," the NOD said in a statement.
    Norwegian gas output and export fell more than expected last
year due to extensive maintenance at offshore fields and onshore
terminals.
    Full-year gas output fell 5.3% in 2023 to 116 billion cubic
metres (bcm) from a record 122.5 bcm the previous year, NOD data
showed.
    Norway's annual gas output was seen at around 120 bcm in the
years from 2024 to 2027, before declining to 117.4 bcm in 2028.
    Oil output was seen rising to 2.1 million boed in 2025,
boosted by the expected start of Equinor's  EQNR.OL  Johan
Castberg oilfield in the Barents Sea.
    The 2028 forecast, published for the first time, showed
Norway's oil output at 1.83 million boed.
    Investments in oil and gas, including in producing fields,
new developments, discoveries and exploration, were seen rising
in 2024 to an eight-year high of 240 billion crowns ($23.22
billion) from 227 billion in 2023, NOD said.
    "This is due, among other things, to high activity, a weaker
Norwegian currency and cost growth," it added.
    
($1 = 10.3341 Norwegian crowns)

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Norway oil and gas production    https://tmsnrt.rs/41WAoZG
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik)
 ((nerijus.adomaitis@thomsonreuters.com; +47 9027 6699; Reuters
Messaging: nerijus.adomaitis.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))