Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Notes

Starting with the discovery of the Ekofisk oil field in 1970, successful exploration in Norway's North Sea waters has brought the country into No. 1 position in Europe (excluding the Russian Federation), in terms of oil in place, proved reserves and production.

On the basis of data published by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), total oil reserves at end-2005 amounted to 1 230 million m³ (approximately
1 034 million tonnes) of crude oil, 138 million tonnes of NGLs and 47 million m³ (about 30 million tonnes) of condensate. In addition to the quoted proved amount, the NPD reports 'contingent resources', defined as 'discovered quantities of petroleum for which no development decision has yet been made', and 'potential from improved recovery': together these represent 585 million m³ (492 million tonnes) of crude oil, 47 million tonnes of NGLs and 41 million m³ (26 million tonnes) of condensate - a total additional recoverable resource of
565 million tonnes. Over and above these amounts, there are estimated to be 'undiscovered resources' of 1 160 million m³ (975 million tonnes) of crude oil and 340 million m³ (218 million tonnes) of condensate.

Although Norway's recoverable reserves are 2.4 times those of the UK, its oil output in 2005 was only about 65% higher than that of the UK. Following 16 years of unremitting growth, Norwegian oil production levelled off in the late 1990s and since 2001 has been on a gently downward trend. The groups of fields with the largest output of crude oil in 2005 were Ekofisk, Troll, Grane, Snorre, Gullfaks, Heidrun and Asgard. Nearly 90% of Norwegian crude oil production was exported in 2005, mostly to Western European countries, the USA and Canada.