(Bloomberg) -- Norwegian oil production will fall 6 percent this year, its 11th annual decline, as the world's seventh-largest crude exporter struggles to maintain output after 40 years of pumping from aging North Sea fields.
Production will fall to 98.3 million cubic meters in 2011, or 1.7 million barrels a day, from 104.4 million cubic meters in 2010, the Stavanger-based Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said. Gas output is expected to rise to 109.1 billion cubic meters from 106.4 billion cubic meters, the agency said.
⌠The fact that the companies on the Norwegian shelf are not able to achieve a maximum exploitation of our fields poses a challenge, said Bente Nyland, head of the agency, at a presentation in Stavanger. ⌠Although our recovery rate is among the best in the world, we are still not satisfied. If we manage to recover just 1 percent more, this would mean revenue in the hundreds of billions for Norway.