HAMILTON, Norway, Jan. 23, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Reference is made to the press release dated 21 January 2006 regarding the acceptance level in the voluntary offer of Smedvig. After the expiry of the Offer Period, SeaDrill has received acceptances for a total of 24,876,009 class A-shares and 15,417,402 class B-shares. Including both the accepted shares and the already owned shares, SeaDrill controls a total of 27,546,609 class A-shares and 15,417,402 class B-shares, constituting 51.24% of the Smedvig votes and 52.57% of the Smedvig capital.