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Oil Optimism Is Back as Norway Predicts Worst Is Behind Us


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Oil Optimism Is Back as Norway Predicts Worst Is Behind Us

Business

Category: Energy

The man overseeing energy policy in western Europe’s biggest oil-producing nation says the worst downturn in the history of Norway’s offshore industry appears to have bottomed out as OPEC’s historic deal continues to reverberate across the globe.

Terje Soviknes, who was named as Norway’s next petroleum and energy minister on Tuesday, replacing Tord Lien, said the oil and gas industry has put the worst behind it.

“There’s renewed optimism in the oil and gas industry,” he told Bloomberg after a press conference in Oslo. “The change in the oil price curve we’ve seen lately has contributed to that.”

Norway earlier this month gave public backing to OPEC’s agreement to cut oil production in tandem with non-members, though it gave no indication it would reverse its previous refusal to directly collaborate with the group. Norway’s oil production has fallen by half since a 2000 peak, but is on track to rise for a third consecutive year after beating the government’s own forecasts by 5 percent this year through November, according to figures released by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in his new office, Soviknes said Norway should expect to live off its fossil fuel industry for “decades to come.”

Source: Bloomberg

Published: March 29, 2024