Petroleum Geo-Services to Develop National Geophysical/Geological Data Bank for Russia

Houston, Texas; Oslo, Norway; May 17, 2000: Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (NYSE:PGO; OSE:PGS) announced today that its subsidiary, PGS Data Management AS, has entered into an agreement to develop and implement a National Geophysical and Geological Data Bank (NBDGI) for Russia. The agreement partners are PGS, GlavNIVC of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), and The Central Geophysical Expedition (CGE) of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy (MFE).

Scheduled for startup this year, the data bank will be equipped with the proprietary PGS PetroBankTM system and operated as a division of GlavNIVC. The operation will include a central location in Moscow and regional centers throughout Russia, from St. Petersburg to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. When operational, oil companies will be able to connect online with preapproved access to quality- controlled seismic, well, production and cultural data.

"PGS is pleased to participate in the development of this strategically important National Data Bank," said Bjarte Bruheim, President and Chief Operating Officer of PGS. "This National Data Bank will increase efficiency by enabling the oil industry to make swift business decisions, while ensuring the security of national interests. Our superior PetroBank technology combined with our world-wide experience is the perfect solution for this and other national data banks."

"We have been engaged in a six-year program of gathering and preparing data for NBDGI," said Garold Lubimov, Director of GlavNIVC. "For the development and implementation phase of NBDGI we evaluated several technologies and found PetroBank to be the best. We are confident such state-of-the art and proven technology will secure the future success of NBDGI."

"NBDGI will be an important system for secure and efficient data management of our national data assets," said Alexey Kashik, Director of CGE. "Having seen how the PetroBank solution handles such enormous oil industry challenges in Norway, we are convinced that we have made the right choice for our Russian National Data Bank. It will provide tremendous value for current and future oil companies operating in Russia."

"This is an exciting step forward in the expansion of our data management business in this region, where we have been active since 1995," said Bruheim. “We have customers located in Moscow, The Urals, Western Siberia, Sakhalin and the Caspian area. These types of arrangements put PGS in the unique position of securing the majority of the seismic, well, production and cultural data for these key oil bearing regions. PGS has long been the dominant player in Norway where we currently manage and store virtually all such oil industry information. We are pursuing similar agreements in most regions where the oil and gas industry is actively searching for or producing hydrocarbons, and I firmly believe this approach will prove to be the right strategy for PGS in the long term.”

Petroleum Geo-Services is a technologically focused oilfield service company principally involved in two businesses: geophysical seismic services and production services. PGS acquires, processes, manages and markets 3D, 4D and 4C marine seismic data. This data is used by oil and gas
companies in the exploration for new reserves, the development of existing reservoirs, and the management of producing oil and gas fields. In its production services business, PGS owns four floating production, storage and offloading systems and operates numerous offshore production facilities for oil and gas companies. FPSOs permit oil and gas companies to produce from offshore fields more cost effectively. The Company also provides data management solutions, 4D reservoir monitoring and characterization studies and other specialized geophysical services. PGS operates on a worldwide basis with headquarters in Oslo, Norway and Houston, Texas.