Three factors influence the value of oil and gas production: the development in production, the international crude oil price and the dollar exchange rate.
The average quotation for a barrel of Brent crude oil was USD 79.5 in 2010 against USD 61.6 in 2009, an increase of almost 30 per cent.
The figure below illustrates the oil price trend in 2010. The year was characterized by a fairly stable oil price of about USD 75 per barrel, with a slightly increasing trend towards the end of the year. It appears from the figure that the EUR/USD rate was relatively stable throughout 2010.
The figure below shows the oil price development in USD from 1972 to 2010. The average dollar exchange rate in 2010 was DKK 5.6 per USD. This is an increase of almost 4 per cent compared to 2009 when the average dollar exchange rate was DKK 5.4 per USD.
The slightly increasing dollar exchange rate and the markedly higher oil price in USD relative to the average price in 2009 caused the oil price in DKK to rise by almost 37 per cent from 2009 to 2010. The average price for a barrel of Brent crude oil in
DKK increased from DKK 326.1 in 2009 to DKK 446.7 in 2010.
According to preliminary estimates for 2010, oil production accounts for about DKK 40.4 billion and gas production for about DKK 10.6 billion of the total production value.
The total estimated value of Danish oil and gas production in 2010 is DKK 51 billion, an increase of about 18 per cent on the year before. The production value rose because the higher oil price and dollar exchange rate more than offset the decline in production.