PanAsia increases ownership to 80 % in the Hebei project

PanAsia Paper, in which Norske Skog owns 50 %, has today announced that the company has increased its ownership in the Hebei project (Hebei PanAsia Long-Teng Paper Co. Ltd.) to 80% from 65%.

The Hebei project involves building a new newsprint mill in Shijiazhuang in the Hebei province, southwest of Beijing in China. The capacity is 330,000 tonnes and planned start-up will be in 2nd half of 2005.

PanAsia's own release can be found on www.panasia.com.sg

Oxenøen, July 21, 2004

NORSKE SKOG

Corporate Communication