Subsea Separation System

ABB Ltd
26 June 2000


ABB Corporate Communications,               ABB Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals, 
Zurich                                      Oslo, Norway
John Fox                                    Elsbeth Tronstad
Tel: [phone]                         Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]                         Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]                         [e-mail]


BREAKTHROUGH ABB SUBSEA TECHNOLOGY GOES INTO OPERATION

Separation system on the seabed boosts offshore oil recovery by as much as 50
percent

Zurich, Switzerland, June 26, 2000 - Global technology group ABB said today the
world's first subsea separation system is now fully operational in an oilfield
off the coast of Norway.  The ABB installation for Norsk Hydro is located in 350
meters of water in the troll field, about 60 kilometers west of Bergen, Norway,
in the North Sea.

The ABB technology, called SUBSIS, separates water from the oil stream on the
seabed, unlike conventional surface facility technologies.  Monitored and
controlled remotely, SUBSIS separates and pumps oil-free water from the oil
stream directly back into the reservoir, rather than discharging the produced
water into the sea, as is done in surface systems.   SUBSIS also cuts the amount
of chemicals needed in conventional surface systems to maintain the flow of oil,
allows considerable energy savings, and improves the oil recovery rate as much
as 50 percent.   With SUBSIS technology, oil companies can reduce total field
investments, operating costs and development time.

Gotm Gundersen, head of ABB's Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals segment, said the
success of the SUBSIS technology 'is the first step towards our vision of
offshore oil and gas production running from the seabed directly to shore.'

ABB said the global market for subsea oil and gas processing is growing
especially in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and off the west coast of
Africa, and is expected to grow to US$ 500-600 million a year within the next
few years.

The ABB Group (www.abb.com) serves customers in power transmission and
distribution; automation; oil, gas and petrochemicals; building technologies;
and in financial services.  With novel IT applications, tailored software
solutions, growing eBusiness and a fast-expanding knowledge and service base,
ABB is building links to the new economy.  The ABB Group employs about 165,000
people in more than 100 countries.