Norwegian energy company Statoil said it pulled out of a rig contract early as decommissioning of a North Sea gas field moves ahead of schedule.

The company said it was canceling its contract with North Atlantic Drilling two months early as it wraps up the closure of its Huldra gas and condensate field on the Norwegian continental shelf.

"The licenses do not have any work program for the remaining contract period, nor does Statoil have any other activities where the available capacity can be used," the Norwegian company said in a statement.

The West Epsilon rig has been on contract from North Atlantic Drilling since late 2010 and more recently on service decommissioning Huldra.

The Huldra field entered into service for Statoil in 2001 and had a peak production rate of around 360 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Norway is one of Europe's lead suppliers of energy products like natural gas.

Production was officially closed two years ago and the company said the infrastructure would be completely dismantled by 2019.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said preliminary production figures for August, the last full month for which data are available, show a 9.5 percent decline from the previous month. The government office said the decline was not as low as expected considering at least one field in Norwegian waters was closed for maintenance.

Statoil's adjusted operating profit for the second quarter was $913 million, down from the $2.9 billion reported one year ago. Spending plans for 2016 were revised lower by $1 billion to $12 billion.