Norwegian Offshore Directorate
Norway's offshore petroleum regulator; publishes the monthly NCS production print that anchors European gas supply models.
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate's April 2026 figures put shelf gas sales at 10.2 bcm, down from 10.8 bcm in March, a month its data had already marked as the second straight decline.
Last refreshed: 28 September 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
When does Sodir publish its April 2026 gas print, and will it confirm a third consecutive decline?
Timeline for Norwegian Offshore Directorate
published April data showing 10.2 bcm, down 0.6 bcm on March
European Energy Markets: Troll A extended to 31 May; 51 mcm/day worst casePublished April 2026 Norwegian gas sales at 10.2 bcm, down 0.6 bcm from March
European Energy Markets: Equinor locks in five-year retail stripMentioned in: Storage 35.4% met, 80% trajectory missed
European Energy MarketsMentioned in: Equinor 17bn Norwegian kroner drilling; Eirin first gas
European Energy MarketsMentioned in: Eirin field starts; 27.6 mmboe to Gassled
European Energy MarketsBackground
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (Sodir, from Sokkeldirektoratet) regulates petroleum activity on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and publishes its official production statistics. It was established in 1972 as the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and took its current name in 2024, when its remit widened to offshore carbon storage and seabed minerals. It sits under Norway's Ministry of Energy and is based in Stavanger.
Its monthly production figures, released around the 20th of the following month, are the authoritative record of what the shelf delivered. Because the shelf supplies roughly a quarter of EU gas, those figures feed straight into European storage and LNG import planning. The March 2026 release, for example, showed a second consecutive monthly fall in gas sales.
The directorate's significance is as a fixed-cadence data source in a market short of certainty. Operator notices report individual faults as they happen; Sodir's figures confirm, weeks later, what the whole shelf actually produced.
Monthly figures track slipping gas sales
Sodir's March 2026 figures recorded shelf gas sales of 10.8 bcm, or 349.3 mcm/day on average, down 1.6% on February and 0.8% on March 2025. That made March the second monthly decline in a row. The April figures, out by 22 May, put sales at 10.2 bcm, so European storage modellers went into the injection season with a Norwegian baseline still moving down.
The directorate's cadence also decides when new supply becomes visible. Equinor's Eirin field started producing on 5 May, but no flow rate was published at first gas, so its first confirmed contribution could only appear in Sodir's monthly data. Between releases, the market reads Norwegian supply from operator outage notices and daily pipeline nominations.
How often does Sodir release Norwegian oil and gas production statistics?
Why do European energy markets watch Norway's monthly gas production data so closely?
When does Sodir publish the April 2026 Norwegian gas production figures?
How does Norway's gas output affect European energy prices?
What did Sodir say about Norwegian gas production in March 2026?
What is the Norwegian Offshore Directorate and what data does it publish?
What is the difference between NPD and Sodir?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 28 September 2026. Editorial standards.