Norwegian Petroleum Directorate: Production figures October 2012

Tuesday, Nov 13, 2012

Preliminary production figures for October 2012 indicate an average daily production of about 1 805 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate. This is 287 000 barrels per day more than in September 2012.

Total gas sales were about 10.0 billion Sm3, which is 3.0 billion Sm3 more than the previous month.

The average daily liquid production in October was: 1 472 000 barrels of oil, 255 000 barrels of NGL and 77 000 barrels of condensate.

The total oil production on the Norwegian shelf has increased since September and is at the same level as in the summer, but 12 per cent below the prognosis for October.  This is mainly due to planned maintenance and technical problems on several fields. Both The Valhall and Hod fields have been closed for the entire month due to preparation in front of production start for a new platform. Ula, Tambar and Oselvar fields have also been closed for the entire month due to hydrocarbon leakage on Ula.  In addition, Yme and Skarv should have contributed to the production in October according to the prognosis, but these fields will not contribute to achieving the NPD prognosis for 2012, although production for Skarv is scheduled for December.

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, comments Jan Bygdevoll, Director Forecasting at the NPD.

The total petroleum production for the first ten months of 2012 is about 187.1 million Sm3 oil equivalents. (MSm3 o.e.), broken down as follows: about 75.0 MSm3 o.e. of oil, about 18.4 MSm3 o.e. of NGL and condensate and about 93.8 MSm3 o.e. of gas for sale. The total volume is 7.4 MSm3 o.e. larger than for the same period 2011.

Final production figures for September 2012 show an average daily production of about 1.245 million barrels of oil, 0.272 million barrels of NGL and condensate, and a total of 7.0 billion Sm3 saleable gas production.

Preliminary production figures for November will be published in December 2012.

Source: Norwegian Petroleum Directorate