Norway natural gas exports may hit new record this year, Equinor exec says (NYSE:EQNR)

Natural gas supplies from Norway could mark a new record this year as scheduled maintenance is reduced across its facilities, Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) Senior VP Helge Haugane told Bloomberg in an interview Tuesday.

“We could get higher volumes than what we saw last year,” the Equinor (EQNR) executive said, noting “in 2023, there was a lot of maintenance, in 2024 there will be less.”

Norway is Europe’s largest natural gas supplier, exporting ~109B cm of gas to the continent in 2023, and its relevance for Europe’s energy security became clear last summer when unplanned works at some of its facilities sent jitters across markets.

“Russian pipeline gas is practically out for Europe, and liquefied natural gas will definitely have a longer response time than pipeline gas,” Haugane said in the interview, “and that’s one of the reasons why we expect more volatility going forward.”

Equinor (EQNR) has been working to raise the capacity of its facilities, including reducing bottlenecks at Kollsnes, which Haugane saud has increased capacity from 144M cm/day to 156M cm/day.

The company is building its LNG portfolio, recently signing two deals to buy the fuel from Cheniere Energy and sell it to India’s Deepak Fertilisers.

“We are building an LNG portfolio, with supply from Norway [and] the U.S., and we have some other deals which we haven’t disclosed, and then we want to have a diversified outlet for that LNG as well,” Haugane said.