Norway's crude output beats forecast on Johan Sverdrup increase

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Norway's crude oil output in May exceeded an earlier forecast by 4%, or 63,000 barrels per day (bpd), to reach 1.654 million bpd, data released Friday by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate showed.

But the May production figure was still down 3.6% from April and 5.6% down year-on-year, when production was 1.753 million bpd.

The country's Johan Sverdrup field has been hitting production increase targets ahead of schedule and in April operator Lundin Energy brought forward its prediction for the field to hit full phase 1 capacity to May.

Production of 0.535 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), which includes gas, was originally expected to be achieved in mid-2021.

Johan Sverdrup production has ramped up quickly following the start of the field's phase 1 at the end of 2019.

May's production figure was 31% up from the same month two years ago.

Phase 2 production for the field is expected to hit 720,000 boe/d after 2022.