Norway saw a significant increase in its oil production last month to its highest level in more than a year, according to figures released last week by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

Norway’s crude oil output was nearly 1.6 million barrels per day in July, which was an increase of 6.4% from the same period last year and was the highest level since May 2012 as increased production at several fields helped to offset outages at others.

However, the directorate has projected Norway’s oil and gas production to fall 5% in 2013, but to rebound next year and remain around the 2012 level until 2017.

According to MarketWatch at The Wall Street Journal, “Oil companies operating in Norway expect record-high investments in 2013. Most of the investments are required to maintain and boost production in existing fields such as Ekofisk and Troll, but new fields are also being developed, such as Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen and Martin Linge.”

Eric Doyle, Regional Director – Europe at Aquaterra Energy, commented: “The growth of Norwegian oil production supports our on-going projects with key clients in the region and with future projects on the books, we anticipate a continued increase in demand for  our specialist offshore engineering services.”