Oil production in Norway dipped below expected during July 2018 due to technical problems on some fields, according to a report on Thursday by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).

Preliminary production figures for July 2018 show an average daily production of 1,911,000 barrels of oil, NGL, and condensate, which is an increase of 64,000 barrels per day compared to June.

Total gas sales were 10.8 billion Sm3 (GSm3), which is an increase of 1.5 GSM3 from the previous month.

Average daily liquids production in July was: 1,525,000 barrels of oil, 357,000 barrels of NGL, and 29,000 barrels of condensate.

Oil production is approximately 2.5 percent lower than the NPD's forecast for July, and about four percent below the forecast this year.

The NPD said that the main reasons that production in July was below forecast were technical problems on some fields.

The total petroleum production for the first seven months in 2018 is about 135.3 million Sm3 oil equivalents (MSm3 o.e.), broken down as follows: about 50.8 MSm3 o.e. of oil, about 12.5 MSm3 o.e. of NGL and condensate, and about 71.9 MSm3 o.e. of gas for sale.

The total volume is 4.5 MSm3 o.e. lower than in 2017.