Norway's combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 0.3 per cent in August, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said on Tuesday.
Norway is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas and a major producer of oil, but output varies from month to month depending on maintenance needs and other stoppages at close to 100 offshore fields.
Overall oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas output stood at 0.672 million standard cubic metres per day, equivalent to 4.23 million barrels of oil equivalent, a decrease of 0.7 per cent year-on-year.
Natural gas production in August rose to 342 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 333.8 mcm a year earlier, but lagged a forecast of 348.6 mcm by 1.9 per cent, the regulator said on its website.
Crude oil output fell to 1.88 million barrels per day (bpd) in August from 1.96 million bpd in the same month last year, but came in above a forecast of 1.80 million bpd, NOD's preliminary data showed.
(Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)