Riser contract for Aker Kvaerner

has awarded

an engineering, procurement and construction contract to deliver two drilling risers and eight production risers. The contract is valued at approximately NOK 90 million, excluding options.

The order is for two 130 metre drilling risers and eight 130 metre production risers with options up to seven more production risers. A drilling riser is a large-diameter pipe that connects the subsea BOP stack to a floating surface rig to take mud returns to the surface. Without the riser, the mud would spill out of the top of the stack onto the seafloor. The riser might be loosely considered a temporary extension of the wellbore to the surface. A production riser returns processed fluids back down to the sea.

The engineering, concept and procurement will be executed in Aker Kvaerner's office in Oslo, Norway and the fabrication of risers will be carried out at Aker Kvaerner's pipe welding unit in Verdal, Norway.

The project commenced in November 2005 and the first riser will be delivered in October 2006, with subsequent deliveries finalised by July 2007.

This contract was signed and booked in the fourth quarter of 2005.