Employee Stock Options Awarded
23 July 2012
Norse Energy Corp. ASA ("NEC" ticker code OSE - NEC, Oslo, Norway, U.S OTCQX symbol "NSEEY") announces that it has awarded options to purchase 5,900,000 shares in Norse Energy to key employees in accordance with the Norse Energy 2012 Stock Option Plan. The newly issued options carry a strike price of NOK 2.92 per share and are exercisable two years after the grant date of 20 July 2012. These newly issued options, if unexercised, will expire five years after the grant date.
Options held by the Company’s primary insiders following this award are as follows:
Mark Dice, Chief Executive Officer, received 1,500,000 newly issued options with an exercise price of 2.92 NOK. Mr. Dice holds another 416,667 additional share options which carry an exercise price of 21.00 NOK and an exercise period of 9 June 2010 – 3 July 2014. Mark Dice now holds a total of 1,916,667 share options and 225,000 shares in NEC.
Chris Steinhauser, Chief Financial Officer and EVP of M&A, received 1,000,000 newly issued options with an exercise price of 2.92 NOK. Mr. Steinhauser holds an additional 133,500 share options which carry an exercise price of 10.30 – 28.60 NOK and an exercise period of 8 June 2010 – 15 April 2016. Chris Steinhauser now holds a total of 1,133,500 share options and 0 shares in NEC.
Dennis Holbrook, Chief Legal Officer and EVP, received 1,000,000 newly issued options with an exercise price of 2.92 NOK. Mr. Holbrook holds an additional 83,333 share options which carry an exercise price of 20.10 and an exercise period of 9 June 2010 - 24 July 2014. Dennis Holbrook now holds a total of 1,083,333 share options and 218,387 shares in NEC.
Nazir Ali, EVP of Operations and Reservoir Management, received 1,000,000 newly issued share options with an exercise price of 2.92 NOK. Nazir Ali now holds a total of 1,000,000 share options and 0 shares in NEC.
Rich Caporal, VP and Controller, received 600,000 newly issued share options with an exercise price of 2.92 NOK. Mr. Caporal holds an additional 15,000 share options which carry an exercise price of 28.60 and an exercise period of 8 June 2012 – 8 June 2012. Rich Caporal now holds a total of 615,000 share options and 0 shares in NEC.
Serena Zindler, VP of Financial Planning & Systems received 600,000 newly issued share options with an exercise price of 2.92 NOK. Serena Zindler now holds a total of 600,000 share options and 0 shares in NEC.
An additional 200,000 share options have to-date been awarded to one other employee.
“This is an important step in further aligning employee incentives with the long-term interests of Norse shareholders,” commented CEO Mark Dice.
Norse Energy owns or leases approximately 130,000 net acres in New York State of which ~33,000 lie in the liquids rich shale fairways of Western New York, and the remaining ~97,000 net acres lie in the Marcellus and Utica natural gas fairways of Central New York. Internally estimated contingent resources total ~917 MMBOE or ~5.2 TCFGE.
For further information, please contact:
J. Chris Steinhauser, Chief Financial Officer
Office: +1 713 975 1900
Email: csteinhauser@norseenergy.com
Dennis Holbrook, Chief Legal Officer
Office: +1 716 568 2048
Email: dholbrook@norseenergy.com