On Wednesday, Norway’s Oil Minister Tina Bru said that the country would cut its oil output from June to December this year, for the first time in 18 years.
Norway will cut 250,000 bpd of oil supply in June, and by 134,000 bpd in the second half of 2020. Due to the cut, the total Norwegian production in December will be 300,000 bpd less than originally planned.
In February, Norway’s crude output stood at 1.75 million bpd, up 26% year-on-year. Including condensate and natural gas liquids (NGL), the oil liquids production was 2.1 million bpd, making up around 2% of global output.
The country will also delay the start-up of several fields until 2021. These oilfields are supposed to produce 160,000 bpd of the overall December cuts, according to the minister.
The cuts are considered using a reference point of 1.859 million bpd. Hence, June’s upper output limit will be 1.609 million bpd while the second half of the year will be 1.725 million bpd.
Bru commented, “The cut will include oil fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and be fairly distributed between the fields and thereby between companies.”
Norway’s output and exports of natural gas will not be affected by the cuts.
Going forward, the Norwegian government expected a rebound of crude production to more than 2 million bpd by 2024 without counting the NGL or condensate as big new fields will start operations.
