Norway Falls to Fifth Place Among World Oil Exporters (Update2)
By Bunny Nooryani
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Norway dropped to fifth place among the world's crude oil exporters last year as the nation's North Sea production declined, the Norwegian energy ministry said.
The United Arab Emirates replaced Norway as the world's third-largest exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia, Sissel Edvardsen, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said today in an interview. Iran currently holds fourth place, she said.
Edvardsen declined to give specific figures for each nation's export levels in 2006 and said the ranking was based on ``figures we use at the ministry.''
Norway's crude oil output fell 7.8 percent last year as companies such as Statoil ASA and Norsk Hydro ASA struggled to replace dwindling oil supplies at aging North Sea fields. The nation is developing natural-gas deposits including Ormen Lange in the Norwegian Sea, set to make Norway the world's second- largest gas exporter after it starts production in October.
``Norway's becoming a gas nation instead of an oil nation,'' said Bjoern Inge Toennessen, an analyst at DnB NOR Markets in Oslo. ``This won't make much of a difference to the industry, since hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons. It's just a bit more complex selling gas, since oil pretty much sells itself.''
Production
Oil output in Norway totaled 136.6 million standard cubic meters last year, or about 2.35 million barrels a day, according to figures published by the country's Petroleum Directorate yesterday. Almost all the oil is exported.
By comparison, Saudi Arabia pumped an average 9.24 million barrels a day of crude oil in 2006, according to Bloomberg estimates. Iran produced 3.86 million barrels a day and the United Arab Emirates pumped 2.56 million barrels a day, the estimates showed.
Crude oil output in Russia last year averaged 9.6 million barrels a day, Russia's Energy and Industry Ministry said last month.
Norway, which has a population of 4.6 million people, has some $282 billion stemming from oil and gas revenue set aside in a fund for future pensions. The country can export most of its oil and gas because it generates almost all its electricity from plants run by waterfalls in mountainous areas.
The nation gets about a fifth of its gross domestic product from the oil and gas industry. Petroleum products made up 61 percent of all Norwegian exports last year.
Norway's oil output this year will drop to an estimated 129 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent, or 2.2 million barrels a day, the petroleum directorate said in January.
The price of crude oil was little changed last year, both starting and ending the year at about $60 a barrel in New York. The price of crude has climbed almost 80 percent in the past three years because of surging demand from countries including the U.S. and China.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bunny Nooryani in Oslo at bnooryani@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 8, 2007 10:22 EST
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