Oil and gas companies working in Norway have hiked their 2019 and 2020 investment forecasts as they add more field development plans, a survey by the country’s statistics agency (SSB) showed on Tuesday. Higher investment raises the prospect of further interest rate hikes by Norway’s central bank, economists said, as the data helped lift the crown to an almost four-week high against the euro. Investments are now seen at a four-year high of 183.7 billion Norwegian crowns ($21.11 billion) in 2019, up from the 172.7 billion crowns seen in February, according to SSB, which collects the data from oil firms. “The oil companies’ latest estimates for 2019 suggest an increase of as much as 17% compared with the corresponding figure for 2018,” the agency said in a statement. “This growth is considerably higher than indicated in the previous survey, which showed a 7.9% increase,” it added. […]