Norway's natural gas output declined in March from February, missing official forecasts, while oil output grew slightly more than expected, preliminary data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) showed on Wednesday.

Crude oil output was 1.83 million barrels per day (bpd) against 1.77 million in February and a forecast 1.82 million, the NPD said in a statement.

Natural gas output declined in March to 340.4 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 354.5 mcm per day in February, lower than the forecast 352.8 mcm per day, it said. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik)