Norway to cut production

by The Associated Press

Under pressure from OPEC, Norway will scale back its oil production by 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day to help shore up plunging oil prices, as long as other oil producers do their share, Norway’s oil and energy minister said Nov. 22.

The reduction was to take effect on Jan. 1 on the condition that members of the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries comply with their promises and nonmembers do their share, Minister Einar Steensnaes said after getting permission from parliament for the decision.

“It is very important that Russia follow up efficiently,” Steensnaes told reporters, adding that he would be in contact with officials in that country. He would not name a specific target for what Norway thinks the oil price should be, but said OPEC’s price band of $22 to $28 a barrel “is not sensible at the moment.”

The cut would be made from an estimated production of 3.2 million barrels a day from Norway’s offshore oil fields next year, Steensnaes said. OPEC has agreed to scale back output by 1.5 million barrels a day on Jan. 1 but only if non-OPEC members, like Norway, Russia and Mexico, follow suit.

The oil cartel has asked them to put production by a combined 500,000 barrels a day, as oil prices dropped nearly 30 percent in the last two months amid a sharp downturn in the global economy and a slump in petroleum demand.