Norway's Gas Supply Down 4.2% y/y in Dec
Norwegian gas production averaged 332.3mn m3/day in December, down 4.2% year/year, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) reported on January 22.
Supply was 1.2% below the forecasted level, but up 14.8% month/month, according to the NPD.
Oil extraction averaged 1.81mn barrels/day, up 3.2% y/y and 12.1% m/m. It surpassed the forecast by 5%. Overall liquids output averaged 2.135mn b/d, up 11.7% y/y and 13.7% m/m, and 2.5% above the forecast.
A cold winter in Europe has driven up gas demand, while LNG where possible has been diverted to meet a record price spike in Asia. Russia's Gazprom boosted gas flow to Europe by 41.5% y/y in the first half of January. European storage has also been depleting fast relative to last year as the owners of the gas take advantage of prompt prices that are now many times higher at hubs than they were when the gas was injected.