Norway oil output hits highest in a decade on new Equinor field

Image: Equinor 

(Bloomberg) – Norway’s monthly oil production jumped to the highest in over a decade last month, following the ramp-up of Equinor’s new Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea. 

The country’s output rose 17% from June to 1.96 million barrels a day, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate said in a statement Wednesday. That was the highest in data going back to 2011. 

Norwegian oil and gas producers are spending billions to squeeze output from the country’s mature continental shelf. While exports have dropped from what they were in the early 2000s, July crude loadings from the country were forecast to reached the most since at least 2012, according to consultant FGE NexantECA. 

The giant Johan Sverdrup field and Johan Castberg alone pump a combined total of about 1 million bpd.