Investments in the Norwegian oil and gas industry are expected to rise to 184.5 billion NOK in 2019 from 159 billion NOK last year. The investments in oil and gas fields will increase with 18% to 152 billion NOK. These predictions are based on figures from Statistics Norway, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and investment estimates from its member companies.
“The strong growth from 2018 to 2019 is primarily explained by increased competitiveness, which makes more projects profitable.” Norog director general Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen said.
The most important message from the report lies in the fact that for the investment forecast for 2023, about 40% of the included projects not yet have been sanctioned. Therefore, stability in fiscal regulations on the NCS is crucial to keep up investments.
“Uncertainty about regulations could cause delays or cancellations of major part of the investments with a dramatic fall in investments and consequences for the State income and jobs available in the sector.” Schjøtt-Pedersen added.
As been reported before on Geo365.no, some political parties in Norway are pushing to change the Petroleum Tax system (Radikal ny oljepolitikk (?)). The Conservative Party however have said that they have no intentions to change the current framework.
Norog finishes its report with stating that the future depends on exploration. High exploration activity on the whole NCS is important to keep up production from existing fields, to recover all profitable resources and create jobs and income.
Read here the article on Norsk Olje & gass.
