Norway's Gas Production Plunges 12.6% as Europe Heads into Winter
Norway's Gas Production Plunges 12.6% as Europe Heads into Winter Jan-Thore is a Norwegian oil and gas expert with two decades of industry experience across a variety of roles.
For the past five years, he… Norway’s oil and gas productiondeclined sharplyin September, with natural gas output falling 12.6% from August, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD).
Total petroleum production averaged approximately 3.77 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), down 10.4% month-on-month and 4% below the directorate’s forecast.
The decline comes at a sensitive time for European energy markets, with the winter heating season approaching and Norway remaining the continent’s largest supplier of pipeline natural gas.
However, the September slowdown contrasts with a stronger underlying trend: Norwegian petroleum production during the first nine months of 2026 remained 2.9% above the corresponding period last year.
Norwegian natural gas production averaged 298.4 million standard cubic meters per day in September, down from approximately 341.6 million cubic meters per day in August.
The decline of 43.2 million cubic meters per day was particularly significant because production also fell 6.7% below the directorate’s forecast of 319.9 million cubic meters per day.
Total gas sales reached approximately 9 billion cubic meters during September, compared with 10.6 billion cubic meters in August.
The weaker performance coincided with the final stages of Norway’s annual offshore maintenance season.
In late August, pipeline operator Gassco warned that planned maintenance could temporarily reduce Norway’s natural gas export capacity by approximately 20% during parts of the period leading up to the end of September.
According to Gassco transparency data reported by Reuters, the median aggregate capacity reduction across Norwegian gas fields and processing facilities was expected to reach approximately 71 million cubic meters per day, equivalent to roughly one-fifth of typical daily deliveries.
The maintenance program was designed to prepare Norway’s offshore production and gas transportation infrastructure for the European winter, when demand typically increases.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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