Norwegian oil output in October below expectations

Norwegian oil production during October 2018 was lower than expected due to technical problems on several fields, according to Tuesday’s report by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).

Oseberg Field Center; Image by: Ole Jørgen Bratland; Source: Equinor
Oseberg Field Center offshore Norway; Image by: Ole Jørgen Bratland; Source: Equinor

Preliminary production figures for October 2018 show an average daily production of 1,874,000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is an increase of 271,000 barrels per day compared to September.

Total gas sales were 10.6 billion Sm3 (GSm3), which is an increase of 1.6 GSM3 from the previous month.

Average daily liquids production in October was: 1,499,000 barrels of oil, 346,000 barrels of NGL and 29,000 barrels of condensate.

Oil production for October was about five percent below the NPD’s forecast for October and about 4.5 percent below the forecast for 2018.

The NPD said on Tuesday that the main reasons production in October was below forecast were technical problems on some fields.

The total petroleum production for the first ten months in 2018 is about 191,0 million Sm3 of oil equivalents (MSm3 o.e.), broken down as follows: about 71.7 MSm3 o.e. of oil, about 17.7 MSm3 o.e. of NGL and condensate, and about 101.6 MSm3 o.e. of gas for sale.

The total volume is 7.1 MSm3 o.e. lower than in 2017.