Norway's combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 2.8% in March, 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 close to 100 offshore fields.
Overall oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas output stood at 0.691 million standard cubic metres per day, equivalent to 4.35 million barrels of oil equivalent, an increase of 3.8% year-on-year.
Natural gas production in March fell to 349.3 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 352.1 mcm a year earlier, lagging a forecast of 351.2 mcm by 0.5%, the regulator said on its website.
Crude oil output rose to 1.94 million barrels per day (bpd) in March from 1.76 million bpd in the same month last year, 8.1% above a forecast of 1.80 million bpd, NOD's preliminary data showed.
(Reuters - Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Nora Buli)
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