Norway: October oil output hit by strike action

Norway’s oil production in October 2020 was below forecast by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) due to effects of strike action during the month as well as maintenance operations on some fields.

Preliminary production figures for October 2020 show an average daily production of 1 877 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate.

Average daily liquids production in October was: 1 611 000 barrels of oil, 253 000 barrels of NGL and 14 000 barrels of condensate.

On 29 April 2020, the Government decided to implement a cut in Norwegian oil production.

The production figures for oil in October include this cut of 134 000 barrels per day in the second half of 2020.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s oil production forecasts have been updated in the Government’s proposed Revised National Budget for 2020.

This was presented on 12 May. The update takes the authorities’ oil production regulation into account, as well as the delayed start-up of fields under development and oil production in the first quarter.

Oil production in October is 6.6 per cent lower than the NPD’s forecast, and 2.1 per cent below the forecast so far this year.

The main reasons that production in October was below forecast is strike and maintenance work on some fields.

The total petroleum production for the first ten months in 2020 is about 188.6 million Sm3 oil equivalents (MSm3 o.e.), broken down as follows: about 81.2 MSm3 o.e. of oil, about 15.1 MSm3 o.e. of NGL and condensate and about 92.3 MSm3 o.e. of gas for sale.

The total volume is 13.2 MSm3 o.e. higher than in 2019.