Minister: Norway has no plans to follow OPEC’s lead in cutting

The Associated Press

Norway, the world’s third largest oil exporter, has no plans to cut its oil production in the wake of OPEC’s decision to cut its output by 4 percent, the minister of petroleum and energy said April 1.

“I take note of OPEC’s production cut, but do not see that there is ground for cutting Norwegian production,” the minister, Einar Steensnaes, was quoted as telling Norwegian news agency NTB.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed March 31 to cut production to prevent a drop in prices this spring, when the global demand for oil usually slips to a seasonal low.

Norway, which trails only Saudi Arabia and Russia in oil exports, is not a member of the oil cartel, but has often cooperated with the bloc in efforts to manage the oil market.

Steensnaes spoke after meeting Oman’s oil minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Ramhi in the western Norway city of Stavanger, the center of Norway’s oil industry some 200 miles west of Oslo.

Norway produces about 3 million barrels of oil a day, plus natural gas from the offshore fields along its coast.