Seadrill today took delivery of the new deepwater semi-submersible
drilling rig West Aquarius from the DSME shipyard in South Korea. The
unit will leave Korean waters in a few days after completing some
general mobilization activities, en route to its first drilling
assignment in Indonesia. Start-up of operations is expected mid
February. West Aquarius has a three-year contract with ExxonMobil for
worldwide exploration activities.

West Aquarius is a sixth generation, high specification, deepwater,
state of the art semi-submersible drilling unit. The rig has a high
load carrying capacity, an efficient drilling floor layout with
improved safety and working environment measures. West Aquarius can
run parallel drilling operations and is designed with a dynamic
positioning system and a water depth capacity up to 3,000 meters.

West Aquarius is the seventh consecutive deepwater drilling unit
delivered to Seadrill during the last 10 months, and the second
deepwater newbuild delivered to Seadrill that starts a long-term
contract with ExxonMobil.


Analyst contact:
Jim Dåtland
Vice President Investor Relations
Seadrill Management AS
+47 51 30 99 19

Media contact:
Alf C Thorkildsen
Chief Executive Officer
+47 51 30 99 19

Seadrill Limited
Hamilton, Bermuda
January 16, 2009


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