In addition, levels of inflowing cash are anticipated to
remain robust going into 2025 due to new oil and gas developments and the
impact of inflation, estimates from a survey conducted by Norway’s National
Statistics Office (SSB) said on 28 May.
The latest figure also exceeds the previous record of
Nkr224bn set in 2014 and is a 1.3% increase since the last survey was
conducted.
The historical data going back 21 years also indicates that,
on average, the February estimate for annual investment has been 2.4% lower
than the final investments.
With the exception of 2023, none of the years have seen
final investments that exceeded the May estimate by more than 8.8%.
For 2025, total investment in oil and gas operations in
Norway, including pipeline transportation, is projected to be Nkr216bn,
approximately Nkr11bn higher than the previous estimate.
The rise Is primarily due to increased projections for field
development and exploration.
The survey said: “There are no such artificial reasons for
the strong forecast growth for 2024. The increase is linked to high price
growth throughout last year, largely as a result of the devaluation of the
krone.”
The survey added that investments in several developments
were “forced relative to initial plans, which has increased planned activity in
2024.”
According to the 2024 investment estimates, companies are
also planning to significantly increase their investments in the oil and gas,
manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and electricity supply industries.
Moreover, the early estimates suggest that this growth trend
will continue into 2025. The SBB added that 2025’s expected increase is “mainly
due to the projection of a further increase in investments for both oil and gas
activities and electricity supply.
“Manufacturing investment also contributes positively to
this increase, but the increase here is more moderate.”
Crude oil production in Norway stood at 1.69 million barrels
per day (mbbl/d) in 2022, according to research by GlobalData. Oil production
will peak by 2024 with 2mbbl/d, representing a 1% increase to 2023 levels, and
stay in a plateau until 2028.