Norway's leading oil authority expects 2013 will see a decline in oil production for Europe's second-biggest producer, although numbers could bounce back once new fields come online in the next few years.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has forecast a 5 percent drop in production for this year, despite industry optimism about the 2010 discovery of the huge Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea. The oil body also projected that exports would rally, then hold steady at 2012 levels until 2017.

The news comes amid a general downward spiral for Norway's energy sector, which has shrunk from all-time highs about a decade ago in response to the changing global energy landscape. Booming oil and natural gas extraction in the United States and Iraq have contributed to a global supply glut.

"Nobody can say the supply isn't sufficient," International Energy Agency head Maria van der Hoeven said last week.

Norway can no longer count itself among the top 10 global crude oil exporters, according to consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. Nevertheless, oil and gas exports still form the backbone of Norway's economy.

Although oil exploration and exports are waning, Norway expects record investment in its oil companies this year, estimated at $37.5 billion.

Bente Nyland, head of the NPD, maintained that the industry is "performing well."

"One word is repeated often, and that's the word 'boom,'" she said (Kjetil Malkenes Hovland, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 11). -- BS