At an extraordinary General Assembly meeting in Statoil today, Jerome Contamine, former General Manager, Elf Norway, and Ellen Stensrud, Head of Information, the Norwegian Labour Union (LO) were elected new members of the Statoil board. Former board member Rune Bjerke has asked to resign from the Board due to his new position as General Manager in Hafslund ASA. The new members are elected until the regular General Assembly in 2001.-The election of the two new board members to the Statoil Board is strengthening the company to better meet future challenges.This relates both to the activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as well as to Statoil's international ambitions,

says Olav Akselsen, Minister of Petroleum and Energy.

The Statoil Board will now have 11 members. The eight elected by the General Assembly are:

Ole Lund (chairman of the Board), Kirsti Koch Christensen, Jerome Contamine, Finn A. Hvistendahl, Bente Rathe, Ellen Stensrud, Ingvard M. Sviggum and Knut Åm. The three elected among and by the employees are: Marit Bakke, Lill Heidi Bakkerud and Stein Bredal.