Equinor plans to invest up to $6.6 billion every year in its operations offshore Norway as it continues to see long-term demand for Norwegian oil and gas, executives at the energy giant said at a news conference on Monday.
Norway’s oil age will not end soon, Equinor’s chief executive Anders Opedal said.
“We see a long-term demand curve for Norwegian oil and that is why we continue to invest,” Opedal noted.
The Norwegian oil and gas major plans to invest $5.7 billion-$6.6 billion (60 billion-70 billion Norwegian crowns) annually in the Norwegian Continental Shelf by 2035, said Opedal and Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s Executive Vice President, Exploration & Production Norway.
Equinor targets to keep its current production level offshore Norway at around 1.2 million barrels per day until 2035, Hove noted.
The company also plans to drill 20-30 exploration wells on the Norwegian continental shelf each year until 2035, the manager added.
Oil and gas from Norway’s shelf are important contributors to Europe’s energy security on one hand, and create jobs and supply chain opportunities domestically in Norway, on the other hand, Equinor’s top executives said today.
Higher costs and ongoing field developments are set to boost oil and gas investments offshore Norway to a record high, the top hydrocarbon producer in Western Europe, the latest data from Statistics Norway showed earlier this month.
Total investments in oil and gas activity in 2024, including pipeline transportation, are estimated at an all-time high of $24 billion (257 billion crowns), Statistics Norway said in its third-quarter survey of oil companies’ investment plans.
Oil and gas investments offshore Norway are set to remain high in 2025, too. Next year, companies expect to invest a total of $22.45 billion (240 billion crowns), the latest survey showed. This estimate is 11% higher compared to the forecasts from the companies in the previous survey in May, the statistics office said.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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