Oil production in Norway fell to its lowest level in 12 years in 2006, while natural gas output rose to a new record, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) reported Friday.
"2006 was a record-breaking year for gas sales from the Norwegian continental shelf," the NPD said.
"But production of oil was at its lowest level since 1993/1994," it said in a statement.
Norway's oil production fell to an average of 2.36 million barrels per day (mbpd) last year, down by 10 per cent from 2.55 mpbd in 2005.
The directorate said it expected the decline to continue in 2007 to about 2.2 mbpd, but that it was an uncertain estimate linked to the ability of reservoirs to deliver, the timing of startups for new projects and the regularity of production.
In contrast, gas sales rose to a record 87 billion standard cubic meters in 2006 from 84.4 billion in the previous year.
It forecast gas sale to rise again to more than 90 billion this year.
Norway is the world's third-largest oil exporter and provides much of western Europe's crude oil and in particular growing gas demands.
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