Gas prices lift Norway’s August trade surplus to record

OSLO – Norway’s trade surplus rose to a record 197.7 billion Norwegian crowns ($19.54 billion) in August, boosted by soaring prices for its gas exports to Europe, national statistics agency data showed on Thursday.

With a daily output of about 4 million barrels of oil equivalent, almost equally divided between oil and gas, Norway has been a winner from the spike in global energy prices.

The country’s exports totaled 287.8 billion crowns last month, of which 61 percent came from natural gas, the data showed.

($1 = 10.1162 Norwegian crowns)