Norway's oil production fell to a preliminary 1.99 million barrels per day on average in April from 2.15 million in March, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Thursday.

Non-OPEC producer Norway is the world's fourth biggest oil exporter and western Europe's biggest gas exporter.

Oil companies on the Norwegian continental shelf are struggling to maintain production against a long-term declining trend at maturing North Sea oilfields, but Norway's gas production continues to grow. Norwegian oil production has been more closely analyzed in an earlier ASPO study [1].

Read more: Reuters [2] or Norwegian Petroleum Directorate [3]