NORWAY OIL & GAS DOWN

A preliminary report from the the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) shows oil and gas output in Norway decreased in August compared to July, Reuters reported. The report found oil production reached 1.485 million barrels per day in August, down from 1.5 million bpd in July. Previously, NPD also revised figures for oil production down from the preliminary July figures of 1.524 million bpd for oil. The NPD said natural gas output in August hit 7.3 billion cubic meters, which is lower than the final July count of 7.98 billion cubic meters.

Last month, Bente Nyland, head of the NPD, said the agency expected oil production forecasts to be lower than originally expected, Bloomberg reported. After hitting peak production in 2000, oil production has slowed and oil and gas investments have decreased. Norway's oil and gas firm Statoil said it plans to reduce oil investments over the next three years by 8 percent.

"There's a large gap between what's profitable for society and what's profitable for companies," said Nyland, according to Bloomberg. "That might be the biggest obstacle."

pennenergy.com