Oil and gas production costs on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) rose by 7 percent in 2018 compared to 2017, ending a streak of several years of continuous cost reductions, Norway’s state-owned oil and gas firm Petoro said in its annual report on Thursday. Petoro, which manages the Norwegian government’s stakes in Norway’s oil and gas fields and is a partner in many licenses on the shelf, delivered a total of US$13.8 billion (120 billion Norwegian crowns) to the state in 2018, up by US$3.8 billion (33 billion crowns) compared to 2017, in one of the best years ever in Petoro’s history, the company said. However, Petoro noted that the effect of the drastic cost cuts has started to level off. “We are not seeing the results of further efficiency gains on our bottom line for 2018,” Petoro said. The 7-percent rise in costs is worrying, the company noted, […]