Norway Oil Firms Raise 2019 Investment Forecast

Oil and gas companies operating in Norway have raised their investment forecasts for 2019 to 175.3 billion Norwegian crowns ($20.6 billion) from 165.1 billion seen in August, a survey by the country's statistics agency (SSB) showed on Thursday.

Investments for 2018 were revised down to 155.5 billion crowns from 156.3 billion, it added.

However, upcoming revisions to the numbers are likely to increase the forecast for this year to reflect ongoing work by the industry, it said, meaning year-on-year growth could be less pronounced than currently suggested.

"The strong growth indicated for 2019 should be interpreted with caution," SSB said in a statement.

"There is reason to believe that comparable estimates for 2018 and 2019 will converge in the survey in the first quarter of 2019, thus implying lower growth for 2019 than indicated in the present survey," SSB added.

Norway's oil and gas investments have rebounded from a sharp fall as rising crude prices and cost cuts lifted industry activity. It was SSB's third release of companies' forecasts for 2019 and the seventh prediction for 2018.

Equinor is Norway's largest oil firm.

($1 = 8.5108 Norwegian crowns)

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Ole Petter Skonnord and Jan Harvey)