Norway's oil and gas production misses government expectations

March 21 (UPI) -- Norway, among the major energy suppliers to the European economy, reported Tuesday that both crude oil and natural gas production in February were short of the government's expectations.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, reported that crude oil production averaged 1.77 million barrels per day in February, about 2.8% lower than the government expected and comparable to January. January production of 1.76 million bpd, however, was about 0.4% more than forecast.

Gas production averaged 12 billion cubic feet per day, off 1.2% from the government's and again on par with January levels. January gas production was 0.8% below forecast.

The NPD in its monthly production report does not offer reasons for any month-on-month variances.

Variances month-on-month are nonetheless small and Norwegian energy companies continue to boast a string of successes that began at the start of the year.

Energy major Equinor last week said it made its eight discovery since 2019 in the Troll field in the North Sea. Named Heisenberg, Equinor believes the discovery holds between 24 million and 84 million barrels of oil equivalent, with most of that in the form of natural gas.

"Our Troll exploration play keeps delivering," said Geir Sortveit, a senior vice president for exploration and production at Equinor. "With discoveries in eight out of nine exploration wells, we are approaching a success rate of 90%."

Norwegian production peaked at around 3.4 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2001 and has been on a slow decline ever since. Despite lower volumes relative to major producers such as the United States, its proximity to Europe makes it an important part of the regional energy economy.

The United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden account for about half of Norway's total exports of natural gas. Almost all of its crude oil exports go to European economies.