Norway Expects Lower Oil Output Irrespective of Production Freeze Deal

Oslo is not considering any oil production freeze in 2016 as output in 2016 is expected to be lower than last year, a Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy official told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar will freeze oil production at January levels if other countries follow suit.

"We have registered media accounts that Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela have agreed to freeze their oil production at January 2016 levels," Ella Bye Morland said.

"Norway has not participated in such discussions. The Norwegian oil production is at any rate expected to be lower in 2016 than last year,” Morland added.

Since the collapse in oil prices in the first half of January, officials from OPEC member states and non-OPEC countries have been considering holding a meeting to address the declining oil prices, which have caused significant financial problems for some states.

Meanwhile, oil prices slowed on Tuesday after reports over an alleged agreement between Russia and a number of OPEC countries to freeze their levels of extractions.