FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Guy T. Marcus
January 2, 2001 Vice President-Investor Relations
214/978-2691
HALLIBURTON AND LANDMARK GRAPHICS ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE
PGS DATA MANAGEMENT DIVISION
DALLAS, Texas -- Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) and Landmark Graphics
Corporation, a wholly owned business unit of Halliburton, today announced a
definitive agreement to acquire PGS Data Management (PGSDM), a division of
Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (NYSE:PGO; OSE:PGS). The agreement is subject to
various regulatory, board and other approvals, as well as the finalization of
certain ancillary agreements. The acquisition will expand the Landmark Graphics
portfolio of market-leading technology management solutions and services by
adding PGSDM's PetroBank solutions. PetroBank solutions are the industry leader
for cost effective internet enabled storage, browsing and retrieval of large
volumes of quality controlled exploration and production (E&P) data and
information.
Under the agreement, Landmark Graphics will acquire PGSDM and its
solutions and trademarks for $179 million in cash. Landmark will manage the
technology and services of the PGSDM acquisition as a part of its core business.
In addition, the parties will enter into a contract for Landmark to provide
strategic data management and distribution services to Petroleum Geo-Services
and its affiliates.
"This agreement brings Halliburton's global reach and vast E&P services
capabilities together with the outstanding technologies and services being
offered by PGS in their growing Data Management division," said Dave Lesar,
President and CEO of Halliburton. "We recognize that distributed access to data
is the cornerstone of the e-business model in the petroleum industry and in fact
-more-
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Halliburton Company page 2
is becoming the competitive differentiator for many of our customers. By
acquiring the capability to provide 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24x7)
access to PGSDM's secure storehouse of E&P data - coupled with the Landmark
Graphics technology portfolio - we are reaffirming our leadership commitment to
being the real-time knowledge services company. The addition of the PGSDM
technology and solutions lines of business will result in expanding
Halliburton's offerings of important knowledge based services to the petroleum
industry to meet growing customer demands for such services. We expect the
acquisition will not be dilutive to Halliburton's earnings in 2001 and will be
accretive after that."
PGSDM's proven network-centric products and services offer E&P
companies the ability to find, access and exploit relevant information on a 24x7
basis through web-based access to all PetroBank Centers worldwide. The PetroBank
solution gives secure timely access to data and applications facilitating
quality decisions while reducing risk and cost.
The PetroBank web-based geographic information systems technology
provides full entitlement control for secure browsing, selecting and ordering of
E&P data. As an example, a customer's seismic data can be ordered down to the
seismic trace level providing a unique E&P industry offering. In addition to the
speed and security features, PetroBank has more than 90 terabytes of data
available online, providing comprehensive information for more than 250,000
square kilometers of Petroleum Geo-Services' worldwide data on prospects and
producing basins. PetroBank has been selected as the repository for E&P data in
Norway and Brazil.
Halliburton Company, founded in 1919, is the world's largest provider
of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries. The company
serves its customers with a broad range of products and services through its
Energy Services Group and Engineering and Construction Group business segments.
The company's World Wide Web site can be accessed at http://www.halliburton.com.
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