STAVANGER, Norway, August 22, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- BP in Norway has awarded Smedvig (NYSE:SMVa) (NYSE:SMVb) a new long-term production drilling contract for the ultra-large jack-up drilling rig West Epsilon on the Valhall Flank in the North Sea. The contract has a firm program of eight wells, estimated to 14 months. In addition, the contract includes an option to extend the agreement with up to 16 wells. In the event of such extension of the drilling program on Valhall Flank, BP has an obligation to employ West Epsilon.
The estimated contract value for the firm period is approximately US$50 million. Operations are scheduled to commence in February 2004 in direct continuation of the current contract with BP.
Analyst Contact: Jim Datland, Investor Relations Manager +47 51 50 99 19 Media Contact: Alf C Thorkildsen, Chief Financial Officer +47 51 50 99 19
Smedvig asa is an offshore drilling contractor headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. The company provides drilling and well services in the North Atlantic and Southeast Asia. Smedvig's main activities are divided into mobile units, tender rigs and platform drilling. Smedvig has a fleet of three modern drilling rigs, one drillship and nine tender rigs and has one tender rig under construction. The company holds contracts for production drilling, well services and maintenance on fixed installations.
This news release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect current views with respect to future events and are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties, because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Many factors could influence actual developments and performance and could cause them to differ materially from those described by these forward-looking statements. For a discussion of these factors please see "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year 2002 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available on our website at www.smedvig.no.
Smedvig asa
P.O. Box 110, 4001 Stavanger Phone: +47 51 50 99 00 Fax: +47 51 50 96 88 Web site: www.smedvig.no E-mail: smedvig@smedvig.no