Norway’s natural gas output rose in December to an all-time high, beating an official forecast, while crude oil production was higher than expected, data from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) showed on Tuesday.

Natural gas production in November rose to 379 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 365 mcm a month ago, and exceeded a forecast of 352.1 mcm by 7.7%, the regulator said on its website.

It marks the highest ever monthly gas production for Norway, beating a previous record set in January 2017 of 372.77 mcm per day.

Pipeline system operator Gassco previously said it had exported a record volume of natural gas in Europe in December, citing high production and increased processing capacity. The NOD data also includes LNG, which is not handled by Gassco.

Crude oil output rose to 1.85 million barrels per day (bpd) in December from 1.81 million bpd in November, and above a forecast of 1.81 million bpd, NOD’s preliminary data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)