Norway's Oil and Gas June Output Exceeds Expectations

Norway's combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 2.3% in June, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said on Tuesday.

Norway is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas and a major producer of oil, but output varies from month to month depending on maintenance needs and other stoppages at more than 90 offshore fields.

Overall oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas output stood at 0.587 million standard cubic meters per day, equivalent to 3.69 million barrels of oil equivalent, a decrease of 10.9% year-on-year driven primarily by greater maintenance levels.

Natural gas production in June fell to 292.3 million cubic meters (mcm) per day from 345.9 mcm a year earlier, but exceeded a forecast of 283.6 mcm by 3.1%, the regulator said on its website.

Crude oil output fell to 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd) in June from 1.73 million bpd in the same month last year, but came in above a forecast of 1.62 million bpd, NOD's preliminary data showed.

(Reuters - Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Stine Jacobsen)