The return on the Petroleum Fund for the first three quarters was 8.3 per cent, with returns on the equity and fixed income portfolios of 15.8 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively. Measured in NOK, the return was 9.1 per cent. The higher return in NOK is due to the krone's depreciation against the currencies in the benchmark portfolio.

In the third quarter of 2005, Norges Bank's management of the Petroleum Fund yielded a return which was 0.18 percentage point higher than the return on the benchmark portfolio defined by the Ministry of Finance. The excess return for the first three quarters as a whole was 0.53 percentage point.

The market value of the Petroleum Fund's combined securities portfolio was NOK 1 281.1 billion at the end of the third quarter. This represents an increase of NOK 97 billion during the quarter and an increase of NOK 265 billion since the beginning of the year. The increase since the beginning of the year is due partly to the transfer of new capital (NOK 166 billion), partly to the return in capital markets (NOK 92 billion) and partly to the depreciation of the krone (NOK 7 billion). The change in the krone exchange rate has no effect, however, on the Fund's international purchasing power.

For further information, please contact:
Knut Kjær, Executive Director, Norges Bank Investment Management, Tel. +47 22 31 60 00.

The quarterly report is published on Norges Bank's website: http://www.norges-bank.no/english/petroleum_fund.