OSLO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - 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  EQNR.OL  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 end-2020. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2K30BE 
    The daily output of natural gas in January was at 335
million cubic metres, 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)
 ((nerijus.adomaitis@thomsonreuters.com; +47 9027 6699; Reuters
Messaging: nerijus.adomaitis.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))