NORWAY BOOSTS OIL OUTPUT BY 22 PCT IN SEPTEMBER
  Norway's September oil output rose by 22.2
  pct to 1.07 mln barrels per day (bpd) from 830,492 bpd in
  August, according to a Reuter survey of firms operating here.
      Operators said the sharp rise reflected higher output at
  several of Norway's biggest fields and resumed production at
  fields shut down for 27 days in August for the Ekofisk field
  rescue project.
      Industry analysts said the increase did not exceed Norway's
  voluntary move to curb by 7.5 pct planned growth in its oil
  output, a move designed to back OPEC-led efforts to stabilise
  oil prices by limiting supplies to world crude markets.
      Norway, not an OPEC member, decided in June to extend the
  production restraints, enforced since February 1 1987, on all
  its North Sea fields for the rest of the year.
      Oil Minister Arne Oeien said last month he expected Norway
  would extend into 1988 its policy of slowed production growth.
      The biggest increase was seen on the Ekofisk field, which
  pumped 168,023 bpd in September against 48,195 bpd in August,
  field operator Phillips Petroleum Norway Inc said.
      Ekofisk and the nearby Valhall and Ula fields, which use
  the Ekofisk pipeline, were shut down for most of August while
  Phillips raised Ekofisk platforms to counter seabed subsidence.
      BP Petroleum Development Norway Ltd, operator of the Ula
  field, said September output rose to 86,727 bpd after dropping
  to 27,237 bpd in August because of the shutdown.
      Valhall, operated by Amoco Norway A/S, flowed 74,694 bpd
  last month compared with 69,748 bpd in August, the company
  said.
      September production was also sharply higher at the
  Statfjord field. Norway's 84 pct share of Statfjord, which
  extends into the British North Sea sector, was 611,138 bpd
  against 552,646 bpd in August, operator Den Norske Stats
  Oljeselskap A/S (Statoil) said.
      Norway's 22.2 pct share of the Murchison field which, like
  Statfjord, extends into the British sector, yielded 15,388 bpd
  in September, a slight 920 bpd decrease from the previous
  month, Norwegian partners on the British-operated field said.
      Statoil boosted output at its Gullfaks field to 109,670 bpd
  in September, compared with 100,188 in August.
      Norsk Hydro, operator of the Oseberg field, said test
  output at the field from the mobile production ship Petro Jarl
  totalled 1,719 bpd last month, down sharply from 16,170 bpd in
  August.
      Hydro said the drop was caused by failure to bring on
  stream a second well, cutting September production to just two
  days.
  

