Norway, the world's third-largest oil exporter, ordered production shut down at two offshore platforms, resulting in a sharp reduction in exports. This along with news that U.S. heating oil inventories have fallen, has led to a small hike in oil prices. Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose to US$58.19 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore.
In Norway, safety authorities ordered a production shutdown at two offshore platforms on Thursday as the state Petroleum Safety Authority refused to accept lifeboat standards at two operators. But the fields' operators, state oil company Statoil ASA and the Norwegian branch of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, were likely to keep the fields running at least until they meet safety officials on Friday. Shutdown of Statoil's output of roughly 110,000 bpd at Snorre A platform and output at Norske Shell ASA's Draugen field of 140,000 bpd will lead to a 9% drop in Norway's average daily production.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration in its weekly report domestic inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, reported a drop of 1.6 million barrels to 149.9 million barrels, due to a decline in refinery operation.
14-Oct-06 
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