Norway Cuts Oil Output by 7.5% to Bolster Prices : Britain, Western Europe’s Largest Producer, Won’t Join Move to Back OPEC

Norway, Western Europe’s second-largest oil producer, said Tuesday that it will cut its oil production by 7.5% for the first six months of 1987 to support OPEC-led moves to drive up world prices.

Oil and Energy Minister Arne Oeien told a news conference that the move would reduce proposed output from Norway, which does not belong to OPEC, by about 80,000 barrels daily from the 1 million barrels per day it now produces.

Oeien said the OPEC agreement reached last month in Geneva, which cut the cartel’s output 7.25%, was a “significant step” toward increasing world oil prices.

But he dismissed any possibility of a move toward fixed prices, the second part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ two-pronged policy to raise the price of crude oil to $18 and above.

“Fixing Norwegian crude prices would place new restrictions on oil companies,” Oeien said, adding: “I think it is effective volume limits that work.” He said Norway’s new limits could be lifted on short notice if the producers group failed to stick to its December agreement.

British Policy

Britain, Western Europe’s biggest producer with output of 2.5 million barrels daily, said Norway’s decision would not alter its policy of refusing to place government curbs on production despite pleas by other oil producers that it do so.

A spokesman for the British energy ministry said his country’s policies on North Sea oil and gas production would remain unchanged following Oslo’s move.

In a related move, a Norwegian Oil and Energy Ministry spokesman said Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Hisam Nazer will visit Oslo at the end of next week to discuss oil prices and production policies with Oeien.

Nazer, who replaced Saudi oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani in October, is making the trip at the request of OPEC Chairman Rilwanu Lukman, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. He will also visit Egypt and the Soviet Union in an effort to explain the aim of the 13-nation group in stabilizing prices.

Industry sources in Bahrain said Saudi Arabian output dropped significantly this month to below its OPEC-assigned quota. They said Saudi Arabia has been pumping an average of about 3.6 million barrels per day compared to its 4.1-million OPEC-mandated quota.

The Norwegian cutbacks, which begin Feb. 1, will affect all of Norway’s offshore fields.

In a related development, oil industry sources said that the United Arab Emerates, a Persian Gulf member of the 13-nation cartel, is pumping as much as 1.2 million barrels a day even though its OPEC quota is 902,000 barrels a day.

The unidentified sources said the UAE’s two major producers--the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai--have not indicated that they plan to lower production in line with the OPEC accord. The UAE has a long track record of ignoring national production limits imposed by OPEC.