Drilling contract for Alpha North

Statoil and Transocean have entered an agreement for the
Transocean Searcher drilling rig on the Alpha North satellite in the North Sea's Sleipner West field. The contract comprises drilling and completion of three wells on the Alpha North structure, which will be tied back to the Sleipner A platform. Operations are expected to last for 270 days. The Nkr 200 million contract, calls for the
Transocean Searcher to start drilling work in the summer of 2003, once the rig has finished work on the Åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea. Alpha North is due to begin producing gas and condensate on October 1, 2004.