The NPD forecast an increase in production for the entire year of 3.8 %.

    The rise in September is linked to a great extent to a low statistical starting point: in September 2020, the volume of oil production was 13.8 % lower than the NPD’s forecast, owing to unplanned maintenance and Norway’s agreement to support the OPEC+ agreement to reduce supplies on markets by 134,000 bpd in the second half of 2020.

    At the end of September, 324 of the 7,300 workers on Norway’s continental shelf platforms went on strike — the stoppage went on for two weeks and affected a number of oil fields, including Valemon, Kvitebjor, Gudrun and Gina Krog. As a result, volumes of oil production were down not only in September 2020 but also in October of that year – when production levels (1.62 million bpd ) stood below last year’s average level of 1.69 million bpd.

   By 2024, Norway is to boost production by 19 % compared to 2020 levels, the NPD said in a forecast issued last January. The main factor behind the increase is the John Sverdrup North Sea oil field, the first phase of which was brought on stream by Equinor in October 2019.

    With the opening of the second phase, expected in 2022, the oil field’s capacity will increase from 535,000 to 755,000 bpd. The second driver is the Johan Castberg oil field in the Barents Sea with a capacity of 200,000 bpd – due to come on stream in 2023.

    The company has made five discoveries this year on the North Sea continental shelf, increasing its own stocks by 288 million barrels of oil equivalent.