Exhibit 99.2

Stolt Offshore S.A.                                            [Graphic Omitted]

A subsidiary of        C/o Stolt Offshore M.S. Limited     Tel: + 44 1932 773700
Stolt-Nielsen S.A.     Dolphin House                       Fax: + 44 1932 773701
                       Windmill Road                       www.stoltoffshore.com
                       Sunbury-on-Thames
                       Middlesex,  TW16 7HT
                       England


NEWS RELEASE

                                      Contact:  Julian Thomson
                                                US  +1 877 603 0267 (toll free)
                                                UK  +44 1224 718436
                                                julian.thomson@stoltoffshore.com


                          STOLT OFFSHORE S.A. APPOINTS
                           NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER


London,  England - February 24, 2003 - Stolt Offshore S.A.  (Nasdaq:  SOSA; Oslo
Stock Exchange:  STO) today announced that Mr Tom Ehret had been appointed Chief
Executive Officer. He will take up this position on March 17, 2003.

Mr Ehret,  who has had 28 years experience in the offshore oil and gas industry,
joined  Comex,  a  predecessor  to  Stolt  Offshore,  in 1975  and  held  design
engineering and project management positions based in Paris, London and Houston.
In 1978 he joined the FMC  Corporation,  where  after  working in Houston in new
product  development and sales, he became a member of the Executive Committee of
FMC  Europe.  In 1982 he  returned  to  Comex  as a member  of the  Comex  Group
Executive  committee  and Managing  Director of Comex Houlder  Diving,  based in
Aberdeen,  for seven years  before  taking up the  position  of Chief  Executive
Officer at Stena  Offshore in 1989.  Following the merger of Stena Offshore with
Coflexip  in 1995,  he became  Chief  Operating  Officer of the  Coflexip  Stena
Offshore  Group  based in  Paris.  During  this  time,  he was a  member  of the
Executive  Committee  of the Swedish  Stena Group,  Executive  Chairman of Stena
Drilling  and a Director of Safe  Offshore and Northern  Marine  Management.  In
2001, when Coflexip Stena Offshore merged with Technip,  he became Vice Chairman
of the  Management  Board of the  Technip-Coflexip  Group and  President  of its
Offshore Branch.

Jacob Stolt-Nielsen, Chairman of Stolt Offshore said, "I have known and competed
with Tom Ehret  since he took over Comex  Houlder  Diving in 1982.  He is a very
tough man to compete  with!  I am very happy to have him on our side to lead our
team.  The Board is confident that he brings to Stolt Offshore the ideal breadth
of skills and  experience  that we require to make the Company the leader of our
industry.  He has an  outstanding  track  record  in the  offshore  construction
industry, including the management of turn-around and fast growing companies. At
Stena  Offshore he took the company from a loss making $50 million in revenue to
a profitable  $380 million in revenue.  After the merger with Coflexip,  he took
Coflexip Stena Offshore from a $750 million in revenue to $1.9 billion.

                                 -more follows-


<PAGE>



"As a French national, born in Alsace, with excellent international  experience,
having worked for extended  periods in France,  the US and the UK, he is ideally
suited to manage a company that serves a global  market such as Stolt  Offshore.
He is well known to our customers as well as the financial community.

"I am confident that under his leadership, our assets, technologies and offshore
construction  activities will together deliver the returns to shareholders  that
we envisaged  when we embarked upon our growth plan for the Company in 1998." Mr
Stolt-Nielsen concluded.

Stolt  Offshore is a leading  offshore  contractor  to the oil and gas industry,
specialising in technologically  sophisticated  deepwater engineering,  flowline
and pipeline lay, construction, inspection and maintenance services. The Company
operates  in  Europe,  the Middle  East,  West  Africa,  Asia  Pacific,  and the
Americas.

This news release  contains  forward  looking  statements as defined in the U.S.
Private Securities  Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including,  but not limited to
information  relating to our backlog and future  results.  Actual future results
and trends could differ  materially  from those set forth in such statements due
to various factors. Additional information concerning these factors is contained
from time to time in the Company's  U.S. SEC filings,  including but not limited
to the  Company's  report on Form 20-F/A for the year ended  November  30, 2001.
Copies of these filings may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC.

                                   -end text-