Stavanger, Norway (22 May 2012) Archer have been awarded a four year contract for platform drilling services on Statoil’s Statfjord A, B and C platforms in the North Sea.

The new contract was awarded following a competitive tender process for the majority of Statoil’s drilling operations in the North Sea, a total of eighteen platforms were available within the tender. The contract will commence on 1st October 2012 in direct continuation of the current contract.  Archer is today the incumbent contractor on six platforms and was awarded the three Statfjord platforms under the new contract.

Kjetil Bjørnson, President & General Manager North Sea Region said “We have been working with Statoil for more than 30 years and have been the contractor on Statfjord since it started operating in 1984.  We are pleased to continue our good long term relationship with Statoil and our flexible business model will allow us to adapt effectively to the awarded scope of work.  Archer remains a market leader for platform drilling services in the North Sea and we remain confident in our ability to continue providing safe and cost effective operations to all our North Sea clients.  We view the North Sea as a highly attractive market place and continue to invest in higher value added services to expand our North Sea business.”

Archer’s offshore drilling crews currently operate 15 platforms on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and 17 platforms on the UKCS for customers including ConocoPhillips, BP, Chevron, Talisman, Shell, Apache, Fairfield & Marathon.  The company maintains a lifetime contract with Statoil for the Veslefrikk platforms in the North Sea and will continue its provision of Platform Drilling services to Statoil’s Peregrino development in Brazil.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to §5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act)