Nortrans Offshore Limited Producing in Vietnam; "Ruby Princess" Operational Within Budget and Ahead of Schedule.

OSLO, Norway--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 1998--Nortrans Offshore Limited announced today that its production vessel, "Ruby Princess", had gone on charter to Petronas Carigali (Vietnam) Sdn Bhd on 22 October 1998, the date when oil production commenced in the Ruby Field. Initial production was 8,000 barrels of oil per day and this is expected to increase as more wells are being drilled in 1999. The Ruby Field is located about 155 km east of Vung Tau in Vietnam. Construction of "Ruby Princess" (140,000 dwt) was completed by Nortrans in Singapore last month, and start of operations on the Ruby Field was 10 days ahead of schedule.

"Ruby Princess" will serve as an accommodation vessel and a base for production and storage, as well as loading terminal for export tankers. The vessel has a storage capacity of one million barrels, and is equipped with a three-stage processing plant with a normal capacity of 30,000 barrels a day. The vessel will be operating in waters with a depth of 50m under demanding production conditions, with significant wave heights of up to 9m. These very severe conditions necessitated a special Nortrans-designed turret mooring system to ensure that the production vessel is held in position during typhoons in the South China Sea, where wind-speed can reach more than 180 km/hour, corresponding to a 100-year storm.

The FPSO "Ruby Princess" is the second production vessel delivered by Nortrans in 1998. Both vessels were delivered within the agreed time parameters and on budget. The first, "Petroleo Nautipa", has been operational on the Kiame field off the coast of Angola since June. These two vessels are part of a Nortrans fleet of five storage vessels and production vessels, all of which are on long-term contracts to oil companies.

The commencement of operations on the Ruby Field represents the start up of production for Nortrans Offshore's largest project, and the company is thus well on target in relation to the expansion it planned in 1997. These plans include major events in 1998 such as the commissioning of "Petroleo Nautipa" and "Ruby Princess" as well as its introduction to the Stock Exchanges. All the targets set have been achieved as planned.

Nortrans Offshore Limited has been in the business of designing, engineering and managing the construction of Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels since 1985. Nortrans also owns and operates such vessels. In addition, Nortrans designs and engineers mooring systems and other associated oilfield equipment.

Nortrans Offshore Limited is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and has subsidiaries operating from offices in Singapore and Houston.