10-04-00 Dutch oil production in 1999 fell 7 % compared with 1998 and totalled 1.89 mm cm, the Dutch mining board said. Natural gas production fell 9.9 % in 1999 to 72.03 bn cm compared with 1998, it added. A breakdown of the data showed that 1999 onshore oil production fell 11.8 % on the year to 720,000 cm, while North Sea offshore oil production fell 3.8 % to 1.17 mm cm.
In 1999 average Dutch oil production was at 5,172 cm or 32,529 bpd compared with 5,560 cm and 34,967 bpd in 1998. Onshore natural gas production fell 18.8 % on the year to 42.82 bn cm while offshore production rose 7.6 % to 29.21 bn cm. Dutch oil and natural drillings totalled 35 in 1999 down from 59 in 1998, the Economics ministry said in a separate statement. The decline was attributable to historically low oil price levels in the first half, it said.