Norwegian gas production hits record high in 2024

Oslo, Norway — Norway’s gas production, which has become crucial to replace Russian supplies to Europe, hit a record high last year, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate said on Thursday.

In 2024, the Scandinavian country produced 124 billion cubic meters of gas, almost all of which was exported to Europe, beating the previous record of 122.8 billion cubic meters from 2022, the year Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The conflict in Ukraine has led to a sharp decline in Russian gas deliveries to Europe, with Norway overtaking Russia as the continent’s main supplier.

“The high production in 2024 was caused by high regularity on the fields and increased capacity following upgrades in 2023,” the directorate said in its annual report.

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Gas accounts for more than half of Norway’s hydrocarbon production, which is expected to remain at a high level before declining at the end of the 2020s, the report said.

In 2025, investments in the Norwegian oil and gas sector are expected to hit 264 billion kroner ($23.1 billion), the highest level since 2014.

Since 2021, the International Energy Agency has called for an end to all new oil exploration projects in a bid to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial era.

It expects demand for all fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal — to hit a peak in the coming years, thanks to the rise of clean energies and electric cars.