Norway's Oil and Gas Production Exceeds August Forecasts

Norway's combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 2.6% in August, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said on Tuesday.

Norway is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas and a major producer of oil. Output varies from month to month depending on maintenance needs and other stoppages at close to 100 offshore fields.

Overall oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas output stood at 0.670 million standard cubic metres per day, equivalent to 4.21 million barrels of oil equivalent, an increase of 0.4% year-on-year.

Natural gas production in August fell to 332 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 349 mcm a year earlier, but exceeded a forecast of 328.3 mcm by 1.2%, the regulator said on its website.

Crude oil output rose to 1.92 million barrels per day (bpd) in August from 1.78 million bpd in the same month last year, and came in above a forecast of 1.80 million bpd, NOD's preliminary data showed.

(Reuters - Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Stine Jacobsen)