Norway’s natural gas output fell in September to its lowest level since 1999, lagging an official forecast as maintenance cut production, while crude oil also fell behind expectations, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said.

Natural gas production in September fell to 199.8 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 312.2 mcm a month ago, and missed a forecast of 319.1 mcm by 37.4%, the regulator said on its website.

Crude oil output fell to 1.64 million barrels per day (bpd) in September from 1.79 million bpd in August, below a forecast of 1.73 million bpd, NPD’s preliminary data showed.

September’s output marked the lowest point since 198.7 mcm per day seen in September 2019, according to NPD data.

Pipeline deliveries of Norwegian gas between January and August had already beendown by 6.4% compared to the same period a year ago, the head of pipeline operator Gassco told Reuters in August.

On Sept. 7, nominations for gas shipments fell to a low of 122.5 mcm/day, driven by maintenance at the massive Troll gas field as well as several other fields, with a number of outages taking longer than planned, Gassco data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)