Norway PM: Oil Weakness Lasting Longer Than Expected

The weakness in oil prices is likely to persist for a longer time than Norway, a major oil exporter, had anticipated, although it is too early to cut growth forecasts, Prime Minister Erna Solberg told Reuters on Wednesday.

Norway generates about half its exports from crude oil, prices for which hit an 11-year low earlier after falling 70 percent since mid-2014, and natural gas.

"It now looks like the oil price will remain for a longer time at a lower level than we had anticipated. That means it will also take longer time for some of the new (offshore) projects to get started," Solberg said on the sidelines of a conference.

Reporting by Joachim Dagenborg