Norway is unlikely to meet its annual target for crude oil output, an industry body said on Tuesday (13th November). The news comes via officials from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, who cited slower than expected production through September and October as a result of technical issues and planned maintenance in the Hod and Valhall fields in the North Sea.
Forecasting director Jan Bygdevoll said on behalf of the organisation, “The oil production is also about 3.0 percent below the cumulative prognosis this year. Since the prognosis for the remaining year is relatively high, it might be a challenge to meet the oil production target for 2012,” MarketWatch.com reports.
Figures released on Tuesday revealed that actual output levels for September and October were 15 percent below estimates and 12 percent lower than the Petroleum Directorate’s forecast. However, the average number of barrels per day climbed from 1.245 million in September to 1.472 million in October, although the figures fell well short of 1.681 million barrel average seen in 2011.
The Directorate had originally targeted 1.616 million barrels per day for 2012 – a figure just half of output levels seen in 2000, when Norwegian crude production peaked at 3.12 million barrels per day.