Norway Oil Production

Production: higher oil, lower gas

Norway's total petroleum output was 240.7 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalent (Sm³ o.e.) in 2024 and 239.2 million in 2025, about 10% below the 2004 record. The mix is changing: gas fell from its 2024 record, while oil rose to its highest level since 2009 as new fields started. Oil production in 2026 has run above the directorate's forecasts in most months.

Johan Sverdrup and the new fields

Johan Sverdrup, in the central North Sea about 140 km west of Stavanger, is Norway's largest oilfield. It came on stream in October 2019, and phase 2 started on 15 December 2022. At its plateau of 755,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day it supplies up to 30% of Norwegian oil output. Equinor operates it with 42.6%; the partners are Aker BP (31.6%), state-owned Petoro (17.4%) and TotalEnergies (8.4%). Expected recoverable resources are about 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Its crude is a medium-gravity, relatively sour grade, popular with European and Asian refiners.

Johan Castberg in the Barents Sea started production on 31 March 2025, with a peak capacity of 220,000 b/d and 450–650 million barrels of recoverable oil, according to Equinor. It is one of the reasons oil output in 2025 reached its highest level since 2009.

Norway's grades in the Brent basket

The Brent benchmark is no longer one field. The physical price, Dated Brent, is set by the cheapest of a basket of North Sea grades plus US WTI Midland. Three of them are Norwegian:

• Oseberg and Troll, light sweet crudes from fields west of Bergen
• Ekofisk, from the southern North Sea field whose discovery in 1969 started the Norwegian oil industry

The UK supplies Brent-Ninian and Forties. Johan Sverdrup is not in the basket, although it is Norway's largest stream. Because Norwegian supply is part of what sets the world's main benchmark, changes in North Sea output and maintenance affect the Brent price and its spread to other crudes; see Brent vs WTI and crude oil benchmarks.

Exports: almost everything goes abroad

Nearly all of Norway's oil and gas is exported. In 2025 about 89 million Sm³ of crude, around 1.5 million b/d, went directly abroad, mostly to north-west Europe. Gas exports equalled more than 30% of gas consumption in the EU and UK, about 95% of it by pipeline. Petroleum accounted for about 57% of the value of Norwegian goods exports, roughly NOK 1,000 billion, according to Norwegian Petroleum. Since European buyers lost most Russian pipeline gas in 2022, Norway has been Europe's largest gas supplier.

Norway is not a member of OPEC or OPEC+, and its companies produce at capacity. Unlike Gulf producers, its exports do not pass through the Strait of Hormuz, so its barrels became more valuable to European refiners during the 2026 Gulf disruption.

Taxes and the oil fund

Oil companies on the Norwegian shelf pay a combined marginal tax rate of 78%: the 22% corporate tax plus a 71.8% special petroleum tax, calculated on a base from which the corporate tax is deductible. Investments can be expensed immediately against the special tax. The state also earns income through its direct ownership stakes, managed by Petoro, and its 67% shareholding in Equinor.

The net cash flow goes into the Government Pension Fund Global, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management. The fund was worth NOK 22,683 billion on 30 June 2026, after a 9.4% return in the first half of the year, and is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. Under the fiscal rule, the government may spend only the fund's expected real return, estimated at 3% a year, which shields the budget from swings in the oil price.