Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Statoil ASA, Norway's largest oil and gas company, said it will maintain natural-gas deliveries even though production from Troll, the country's biggest gas field, will be lower this year and next.

``Big gas buyers will be given full assurance that their supplies will be delivered at the specified time,'' Eli Rye, a Statoil spokeswoman, said in an e-mail late yesterday.

Statoil cut oil and gas production targets for this year and next by 3 percent on Sept. 29, the second reduction in two months because of delays in the development of deposits. Norwegian companies are struggling to pump enough oil and gas to make up for a decline in output at aging North Sea fields.

For 2006 and 2007, lower production has been assumed for the Troll, Kvitebjoern and Visund fields, the company said, without giving reasons for the reductions.

The development of the Troll field has enabled Statoil to export gas to Germany, Belgium and France, the company said on its Web site. Troll accounts for 60 percent of total gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf. Norway is the biggest exporter of gas to Britain, Europe's largest consumer of the fuel.

Almost 100 million cubic meters of gas produced daily are piped from the eastern area of Troll to the gas-treatment plant at Kollsnes, near Bergen in Norway, Statoil said on its Web site.

The Troll field, which started production in Oct. 1996, covers 750 square kilometers (290 square miles) in Norwegian North Sea blocks 31/2, 3, 5, and 6.

To contact the reporters on this story: Renee Lawrence in London at rlawrence7@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 6, 2006 08:11 EDT