Støre, who's been hosting his Algerian counterpart in Oslo this week, said Norway has no plans to cut production.
"Norway makes its own evaluations on an independent basis," Støre said. He said Norwegian officials "of course" consult others, "but it's Norway alone that makes these kinds of decisions."
OPEC is due to meet Friday to discuss ways to boost prices, with production cuts high on the agenda as a means of cutting supply and thereby boosting demand. Algeria chairs OPEC, of which Norway is not a member.
Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil has urged Norway, Russia and Mexico to reduce production in line with OPEC. Algeria's foreign minister Mourad Medelci said Tuesday that he doubted Norway would let itself be instructed by OPEC.
From a high of nearly USD 150 a barrel last summer, oil prices fell by more than USD 3 on Wednesday, to near their lowest level in 16 months. Prices below USD 70 were tied to mounting worries that production cuts by OPEC itself will not be enough to offset lower energy demand.
Some North Sea crude fell to USD 67.44. "People are just scared that the economy is going down the tube," Tony Nunan, assistant manager of risk management at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo, told Reuters. "There is a feeling that we are now going to see problems in the real economy; employment, real estate prices will continue to fall and the big concern now is how much economic growth is going suffer."
A stronger US dollar means Norway stands to collect higher kroner revenues on every barrel sold, which may offset some of the price decline. There's no question, though, that high oil prices in recent years fueled the strong economy Norway enjoyed until the international financial crisis erupted. Lower prices will mean far less money flowing into state coffers.
It doesn't seem all that long ago that oil prices were well below USD 20, and the huge jump to well over USD 100 drove up costs for industry and most consumers. The high prices thus were a source of huge concern and complaints, making it almost ironic that the recent decline to a level that's still over three times as high as prices once were, is now sparking concern and complaints as well.
New discovery
Meanwhile, Norwegian oil and gas group StatoilHydro announced a new oil and gas discovery near its Visund field in the North Sea on Wednesday. StatoilHydro said the find in the Pan Pandora prospect was its 20th discovery so far in 2008.
"The area south of Visund has considerable remaining resource potential," StatoilHydro said. StatoilHydro opeartes the field with partners Total of France, ConocoPhillips of the US and Norway's state-owned Petoro.
