NY Court of Appeals to Hear Norse on Home Rule

30 August 2013

Norse Energy Corp. ASA ("NEC" ticker Oslo Stock Exchange, Norway) announces that in an important step toward resolution of New York’s “Home Rule” issue, the New York Court of Appeals has granted Norse leave to appeal the lower court decision in Norse v. Dryden, that New York municipalities have the authority to ban oil and gas development in the state. Since there was no right to appeal, in granting this leave to appeal, the court sends a strong signal that the legal issues will get a fresh look by New York's highest court.

“Norse has consistently maintained that local municipalities are pre-empted by state law from enacting these types of bans on oil and gas development”, commented Norse CLO, Dennis Holbrook. “This is very encouraging news. A favorable ruling would clearly advance the state’s policy to promote the greater recovery of the resource, prevent waste and protect the correlative rights of the landowners,” concluded Holbrook. 

The Company has a significant land position of ~130,000 net acres in New York State with certified 2C contingent resources of 951 MMBOE as of 31 December 2012.

For further information, please contact:

S. Dennis Holbrook, Chief Legal Officer
dholbrook@norseenergy.com
Office: +1 716 568 2048