Norway to announce oil output decision soon

Norway, Western Europe’s largest oil producer, will announce its decision on whether to slash crude output soon, potentially adding its weight to a global push to shore up prices, the energy minister said.

“The agreement among the OPEC+ producer nations is very positive,” Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru said in a statement to Reuters, adding that Norway will draw its own conclusion on potential cuts “in the near future”.

The OPEC+ group, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other countries, agreed to cut output by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in May and June, or about 10% of global supply. “This is an important contribution to help bring stability to the oil market over the coming year,” Bru said of the deal.

Norway has said it would consider a unilateral output cut in support of the deal, but has not said how big its potential reduction could be.

Norway’s crude output stood at 1.75 million bpd in February, up 26 percent from a year ago. Including condensate and natural gas liquids (NGL), the oil liquids production was 2.1 million bpd, corresponding to around 2 percent of global output.