Norway PM: Oil Too Low to Spur Investment

Oil prices are currently too low to spur investments sufficient to meet future energy demands, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Monday.

"It is difficult to predict future developments in the oil market, but it is evident that the current price level is too low to generate the investments needed," Solberg told a conference hosted by Norwegian oil major Statoil.

Companies must continue to bring down the industry's cost level, she added.

Norway generates about one fifth of its gross domestic product from oil and gas, but should aim to become less dependent on the industry, Solberg said.

"I would prefer it to be lower ... that for the last 20 years the main impulse to growth has come from the oil and gas sector," the prime minister said. "What we need to do is to find our growth in GDP from other sectors." (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Stine Jacobsen