StatoilHydro, Ecopetrol Partnership

StatoilHydro has signed an agreement with the Colombian oil company Ecopetrol America inc. under which the two companies will form a Joint Exploration Team for the US Gulf of Mexico and drill three or more wells in the coming years.

Under the agreement the companies will also further mature prospects to potential drilling. StatoilHydro will remain the operator for all prospects.

Ecopetrol will farm in with interests of around 20-30% in the wells covered by the agreement.

"This agreement is in line with our long-term Gulf of Mexico strategy. We are starting our drilling operations next year in some of the prospects we acquired from lease sales and acquisitions in the past years", explains senior vice president in StatoilHydro, Øivind Reinertsen, heading up the USA and Mexico region.

"We have a good portfolio of promising prospects and we are happy to have Ecopetrol America joining parts of our exploration program in the coming years," he adds.

Two drilling vessels will drill for StatoilHydro in the Gulf of Mexico next year.

(www.statoilhydro.com)