HAMILTON, Bermuda, Nov. 16, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Board of SeaDrill Limited ("SeaDrill" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Paal Nordgreen (56) has joined the Board with immediate effect.
Mr. Nordgreen is a Norwegian citizen and resident. He has 30 years of experience from the Offshore Industry. Mr. Nordgreen is owner and managing partner of Nor Ocean Offshore AS. He has in-depth understanding of the offshore market where he has been particularly successful in the supply boat market. Mr. Nordgreen is a shareholder in SeaDrill and has 67,000 shares.
Chairman John Fredriksen says in a comment: "We are very pleased with the new appointment to the Board. Mr. Nordgreen is very knowledgeable about this industry and will add a lot of competence. He has a strong presence in Latin and South America, a market which will be increasingly more important for SeaDrill as the new Ultradeepwater Semisubs units are delivered."
With the appointment of Nordgreen to the SeaDrill Board, the Oslo Stock Exchange requirement for independence raised in their listing application acceptance letter is met. The Board has based on this requested Oslo Stock Exchange to start the trading in the SeaDrill shares on Tuesday November 22. A final approval from Oslo Stock Exchange should be expected this week. A listing prospectus describing SeaDrill based on this time schedule will be available no later than Monday November 21.
The Company has recently and are currently in progress of fixing several of the Company's available Jack-Ups and FPSO units. A full description of these fixtures will be given in the prospectus.
The results for the third Quarter are expected to be released November 30. The results will be in line with what has been disclosed earlier and will be negatively influenced by the fact that in the third Quarter several of the units have gone through upgrading, repositioning or the finishing of old contracts. The situation will improve substantially in the fourth quarter. Based on the current contract status the Company expects close to full utilization for the five available units to be achieved in the first quarter of 2006.
The Operational office in Singapore, responsible for marketing, manning and operation of the existing five units, has so far recruited approximately 20 people, and continues to grow rapidly. A further 25 experienced project people, mainly with backgrounds from large US Drilling Contractors, have been recruited to supervise the new building program.
The Board is pleased by the way SeaDrill has been received in the Offshore market and are hopeful that the listing of the Company's shares on Oslo Stock Exchange will improve the liquidity in the trading and further increase the credibility of the Company.