Norway's Oil and Gas Production Beats Forecasts

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Norwegian production figures show offshore production is accelerating, with both gas and oil output levels beating government forecasts.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD), the nation's energy regulator, on Friday published offshore production data for March. Data show production averaged 1.84 million barrels per day (BBL/d) in oil and another 12.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in natural gas. Oil production was 4.5% higher than the government expected, while gas production was 1% above forecast.

The government provided no information on what led to the increase. Production levels in February were 1.76 million BBL/d of oil and 12.7 Bcf/d in natural gas.

Norway is one of the leading suppliers of oil and natural gas to the European economy, supporting regional energy security at a time when a typical source of oil and gas, namely Russia, is largely sidelined by Western sanctions imposed in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

Torger Stordal, the NOD's director-general, said regional energy security would be threatened without Norway.

"Without Norwegian gas, it would have been more difficult to cover Europe's demand for gas, and the price of energy would have been higher for all Europeans," he said in April.

Stordal's office said Norwegian gas exports to Europe increased by about 100 terawatt-hours after the 2022 invasion, or "the equivalent of about 65% of all Norwegian power generation that year."

In terms of potential new reserves, Norwegian energy company Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger), a major regional player, found hydrocarbons at the Heisenberg oil and gas discovery in the North Sea off the Norwegian coastal city of Bergen. The NOD estimated the size of the discovery at between 24 million and 56 million barrels of oil equivalent, slightly less than preliminary estimates.

A much smaller find for oil was proved at the nearby Hummer prospect. Equinor has a controlling 51% stake in the prospects, with DNO Norge (Oslo, Norway) holding the remaining interest.

Equinor recorded something of a banner year in 2023, with oil and gas production averaging around 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d), an increase of 2.1% over the prior year.

"The industrial progress was strong through the year," the company said. "On the Norwegian continental shelf, the Bauge and Breidablikk fields came on stream, the Johan Sverdrup field achieved a higher plateau production and Equinor increased the ownership share and took over operatorship of the Linnorm discovery."

Of those, Johan Sverdrup is the clear standout for both Norway and Equinor. Named after the nation's fourth prime minister, Johan Sverdrup is the third-largest oil discovery ever made on the Norwegian shelf, accounting for around 30% of the nation's total oil production.

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