EANS-News: Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG / Annual General Meeting resolves to adopt dividend payment of EUR 0.75 per share

Further capacity adjustments to substantially changed market
environment – Bookings sharply declining

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Ternitz (euro adhoc) - Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG:
Annual General Meeting resolves to adopt dividend payment of EUR 0.75
per share - Further capacity adjustments to substantially changed
market environment - Bookings sharply declining

Ternitz/Vienna, 30 April 2009. This year´s Annual General Meeting of
Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG (SBO), listed on the ATX
segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange, adopted all items on the agenda
by a large majority. Shareholders agreed to a dividend distribution
of EUR 0.75 per share (2007: EUR 1.10) suggested by the Executive
Board for fiscal 2008. The ex-dividend day and dividend payment date
were set at 14 May 2009. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board
were given formal approval of their actions. Ernst & Young
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft m.b.H. were appointed as group
auditors for the current fiscal year. At the Annual General Meeting,
the Executive Board gave an overview of the current market
environment in the oilfield service industry. Demand for oil is on
the decline, the oil price remains at a low level. According to
recently revised IEA forecasts, oil consumption in full 2009 will
drop to an average of only 83.4 million barrels a day (2008: 85.8
million barrels a day). Consequently, international oil companies
postpone their spending for exploring new oil reservoirs to a later
date. This development has left its marks also on SBO. The number of
bookings received in the first months of the current fiscal year was
extremely low. As further economic development remains highly
uncertain many customers of SBO reduce their inventories and hesitate
to place orders. In the wake of sharply declining drilling activities
following plummeting demand for oil and oil prices, negotiations with
customers on delivery postponements, order cancellations and price
adjustments have started. As a result, SBO will verify with
particular caution the order backlog in the first quarter for its
validity. Nonetheless, the current order backlog secures basic
capacity utilisation for the large part of 2009. The Executive Board
announced further flexible adjustments of production capacities. In
addition to already reduced manufacturing hours at all production
sites, further workforce adjustments will be made in the coming
weeks. Their actual extent will depend on the development of bookings
in the second quarter. Moreover, a programme to achieve annual costs
savings in the double-digit million Euro range is being implemented.
SBO is constantly conducting intensive negotiations with key
customers to optimize the order situation for both sides.

Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG is the global market leader
in high-precision components for the oilfield service industry. The
business focus is on non-magnetic drillstring components for
directional drilling. SBO employs a workforce of 1394 worldwide (31
December 2007: 1222), 409 in Ternitz/Austria and in 638 in North
America (including Mexico).

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Gernot Bauer, Head of Investor Relations,

Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG,

A-2630 Ternitz, Hauptstraße 2,

Tel: +43 2630/315 ext 250, fax: ext 101,

e-mail: g.bauer@sbo.co.at

Mick Stempel, Martin Keitel / Hochegger|Financials,

Tel: +43 1/504 69 87 0,

e-mail: m.stempel@hochegger.com / m.keitel@hochegger.com

Branche: Oil & Gas - Upstream activities
ISIN: AT0000946652
WKN: 907391
Index: WBI, ATX Prime, ATX
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official dealing