Fire at the Norske Skog Saugbrugs mill in Norway halts production

On the morning of 2 February, fire caused damage to part of the thermo-

mechanical pulp plant which supplies the paper machines with fibre at Norske

Skog Saugbrugs mill. Although the fire was quickly brought under control, it

caused significant damage to the electrical cabling. No employee was injured as

a result of the incident.

All production facilities of the mill have been stopped due to the fire. Norske

Skog Saugbrugs has an annual production of 550 000 tonnes of super calandered

magazine paper and employs 600 people. Property damages and business

interruption are covered by insurance where Norske Skog's self retention is NOK

15 million.

- We are satisfied with the immediate and correct response to the fire from our

own employees and the support from the community emergency response services. We

are pleased that no one was injured in connection with the fire. We will do our

utmost to re-establish normal production at Saugbrugs as soon as possible, says

Norske Skog's CEO Sven Ombudstvedt.

Based on the initial reports from the mill, Norske Skog expects operations at

Saugbrugs to be halted for some time. At present it is not possible to give more

detailed information regarding the physical status of the operations. The fire

is a force majeure event and Norske Skog has informed customers and suppliers of

Saugbrugs about the situation.

Oxenøen, 4 February 2011

Norske Skog

Corporate communication

For further information:

Media: Financial markets:

Vice President Corporate Communication Vice President Investor Relations

Carsten Dybevig Jarle Langfjæran

Mob: (+47) 917 63 117 Mob: (+47) 909 78 434

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to §5-12 vphl

(Norwegian Securities Trading Act)

[HUG#1485618]

AI Terminal