Norway's combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 1.85 per cent in December, 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 0.716 million standard cubic metres per day, equivalent to 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, an increase of 4.7 per cent year-on-year.
Natural gas production in December rose to 367.6 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 361.9 mcm a year earlier, and exceeded a forecast of 357.3 mcm by 2.9 per cent, the regulator said on its website.
Crude oil output rose to 1.96 million barrels per day (bpd) in December from 1.79 million bpd in the same month last year, and came in 5.1 per cent above a forecast of 1.87 million bpd, NOD's preliminary data showed.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Nora Buli)
