Norway's Petroleum Ministry Cuts Estimates Of Oil & Natural Gas Output For 2007 - Forbes

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OSLO (Thomson Financial) - The Norwegian ministry of petroleum and energy has downwardly revised the country's projected oil and gas production this year, cutting its total production figure to 243 mln cubic metres of oil equivalent (cmoe) from 249 mln last year. This compares to a previous forecast of 268 mln cmoe, provided at the time of its budget report in October last year.

Despite the downward revision, the government said it still expects production to rise to 262 mln cmoe in 2008 before dropping to 258 mln in 2011. The new production forecast was given in Norway's revised national budget for 2007, published this morning.

In the last few days, both Statoil ASA (nyse: STO - news - people ) and Norsk Hydro ASA (nyse: NHY - news - people ) have reduced their 2007 production targets due to delays on various North Sea fields.

While Norway's oil reserves are maturing, energy minister Odd Roger Enoksen said exports of natural gas will continue to grow in the coming years. 'Norwegian gas exports have increased from roughly 50 billion cubic metres (cu m) in 2000 to an expected level of more than 90 bln cm in 2007,' he said. 'The gas deliveries from Norway will continue to increase as a result of increased capacity in both production and transportation.'

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http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2007/05/15/afx3721115.html