Minor increase in oil and gas resources on the NCS

Total petroleum resources on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) saw a minor increase last year, according to last year’s "inventory" – the Resource Accounts for 2024.

The Resource Accounts for 2024 show a small increase in the total petroleum resources on the NCS. There was an increase in reserves, a reduction in contingent resources and a small increase in undiscovered resources.

Here are the estimates for total resource volumes (including the volume that has been sold and delivered):

8 980 million standard cubic metres (Sm³) of liquids
6 631 billion Sm³ of gas
Total of 15 611 million Sm³ of oil equivalent (o.e.)
This amounts to an increase of 36 million Sm³ of o.e. compared with the previous year.

Around 56 per cent of the total resources on the NCS have been sold and delivered. 15 per cent are reserves yet to be produced. 7 per cent are contingent resources in fields and discoveries. 22 per cent of the total resources have yet to be discovered.

"The Resource Accounts show high and stable production on the NCS, while resource growth from exploration was low in 2024. If we are to maintain this production level in the years to come, we will have to increase exploration and investment in new projects," says Nadine Mader-Kayser, Assistant director for Data and analysis in Technology, analysis and co-existence.

We have implemented a new visualisation tool for the Resource Accounts for 2024 to make the report’s statistics more user-friendly, in part by enabling filtering in the basic data for figures.

The actual accounts (Excel) contain less information than previously. Detailed information on discoveries and fields can be found in our FactPages.

About resource categories:
Resources is a general term for all oil and gas that can be recovered.
Resources are classified according to maturity, which measures how far along they are in the planning phase leading to production.
The primary classifications are reserves, contingent resources and undiscovered resources.
Reserves are recoverable petroleum volumes not yet produced, but which have been approved for production.
Contingent resources are resources in projects awaiting a development decision.
Reserves and contingent resources make up total discovered recoverable resources.