Norway October trade surplus at record high as gas sales soar

Norway's trade surplus rose to a record high in October as revenues from its offshore petroleum fields soared, led by a spike in the price of natural gas, national statistics agency (SSB) data showed on Monday. The October surplus hit 84.5 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.73 billion), a rise of 60.7% from September, which had held the previous single-month record.

Norway's trade surplus rose to a record high in October as revenues from its offshore petroleum fields soared, led by a spike in the price of natural gas, national statistics agency (SSB) data showed on Monday.

The October surplus hit 84.5 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.73 billion), a rise of 60.7% from September, which had held the previous single-month record. With a daily output of around four million barrels of oil equivalent, almost equally divided between oil and natural gas, Norway has been a winner from the spike in global energy prices.

In total, 67% of the country's overall exports came from petroleum last month, the data showed. State-controlled oil and gas producer Equinor, Norway's largest company, last month posted its strongest quarterly result in nine years, with operating earnings of $9.8 billion for the July-September period.

While crude oil has traditionally been Norway's single greatest source of income, a sharp increase in gas prices in recent months has reversed the relationship. The value of gas exports stood at 72.0 billion crowns in October, a fivefold increase from a year ago. Oil exports, meanwhile, stood at 32.7 billion crowns, up 71.8% year-on-year.

Norway supplied 22% of the natural gas consumed in the European Union last year, second only in size to Russia's 34% market share, according to Norwegian government data. ($1 = 8.6838 Norwegian crowns)

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