OSLO (Reuters) – Oil and gas investment in Norway hit a record high this year and is expected to remain strong in 2025 thanks to a string of new developments and cost inflation, a survey by the National Statistics Office (SSB) showed on Tuesday.
The country’s largest business sector expects to invest 246.9 billion Norwegian kroner ($23.58 billion) in 2024. That’s up from an estimate of 243.6 billion Norwegian kroner released in February and surpasses the previous record of 224 billion Norwegian kroner set in 2014.
The provisional estimate for oil and gas investment in 2025 is kronor 215.8 billion, up from the previous estimate of kronor 205 billion in February.
Typically, forecasts would rise as businesses solidify spending plans in the months leading up to the new year.
“The upward revision for 2025 is due to higher estimates in the areas of oil field development and exploration,” SSB said in a statement.
SSB warned that while initial projections for 2025 could be a year of strong investment growth again, the final outcome could show a more moderate trend as cost inflation subsides and the krone currency stabilises.
“Furthermore, only a small amount of new development will take place next year, resulting in only a relatively modest increase in the forecast for 2025,” the report said.
(1 dollar = 10.4705 Norwegian kroner)
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Jan Harvey)
