Letter of Intent Signed

Enterprise Oil PLC
6 April 2001

     Enterprise Oil announces progress on Bijupira -Salema FPSO contract

Enterprise Oil today announced the issue of a letter of intent to award a
contract to FMC/Modec, for the provision of the FPSO and of subsea equipment
for the development of the Bijupira -Salema fields. The contract, which is
subject to co-venturer's approval, is valued at approximately US $270 million.

FMC/Modec have been chosen from a group of four companies participating in the
Front-End Engineering Design contract including SBM, Nortrans and Brown & Root
/Bluewater. The planned FPSO facility will have an oil processing capacity of
70,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of one million barrels. The
sub-sea development will include 15 wells tied back via manifolds.

Pierre Jungels, Chief Executive, commented: 'This marks a further step forward
in the Bijupira-Salema development. The project is one of the first to be
developed in Brazil by an international company and is a key part of
Enterprise's ambition to build a significant business in the country.'

Co-venturers in the Bijupira-Salema fields are:


Enterprise Oil (Operator)     55 per cent

Odebrecht                     25 per cent

Petrobras                     20 per cent




Ends

For further information contact:

Patrick d'Ancona, Head of Public Relations               020 7925 4160

Sucharita Sethi, Senior External Affairs Adviser          020 7925 4160



Notes to Editors:


The two fields are located adjacent to each other in the Campos Basin, some
280km from Rio de Janeiro, in water depths ranging from 480 to 880 metres. The
Bijupira and Salema crude oils are relatively light (28 degrees API and 31
degrees API, respectively) and deposited in an Eocene age sandstone reservoir of
Carapebus formation. Artificial lift will be required to raise the reservoir
fluids to surface for processing, with reservoir pressure maintained by the
injection of high-pressure seawater to assist oil recovery.