Norway’s oil production rose in December to a nine-year high 1.76 million barrels per day (bbl/d), beating official forecasts by 12.7% as the ramp-up of a major new field continued, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) data showed on Jan. 17.

Output from the giant Johan Sverdrup, which came onstream in late October, helped lift Norway’s December crude output by 4.3% from November and 17% year-on-year.

Sverdrup’s output rate stood at 350,000 bbl/d in early December, operator Equinor told Reuters at the time, and is expected to rise to 440,000 bbl/d by mid-2020.

Norway’s daily output of oil for the final month of 2019 was the highest recorded since January 2011.

Despite the late surge, Norway’s production for the full year was at its lowest since 1989, the NPD has previously said, but is expected to rebound sharply in the coming years thanks to Sverdrup and other fields.

Daily natural gas output rose by 3.2% month-on-month in December, lifting the overall monthly output to 10.7 billion cubic meters and exceeding the industry regulator’s forecast by 0.7%.