Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) - Declaration of Dividend. Expansion Plans.

17 januari 2013 Hamilton, Bermuda, January 17, 2013. Nordic American Tankers Ltd. (the "Company") today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a dividend of $0.16 for the fourth quarter of 2012.  The Company is assessing expansion plans including ordering of new vessels from shipyards or buying second hand vessels at historically low prices.  The level of the declared dividend should be seen in the context of a planned fleet expansion. Expansion is essentially the same as investing in the future. However, also yield is a priority as demonstrated by this payment of dividend for the 62nd consecutive quarter since the autumn of 1997. The record date is expected to be January 30, 2013 and the payment of dividend is expected to take place on or about February 13, 2013. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements.  The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward- looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties.  Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.  We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and world wide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K. Contacts: Scandic American Shipping Ltd Manager for: Nordic American Tankers Limited P.O Box 56, 3201 Sandefjord, Norway Tel: + 47 33 42 73 00 E-mail:  nat@scandicamerican.com Rolf Amundsen, Head of Investor Relations, Norway Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 800 601 9079 or + 47 908 26 906 Jacob Ellefsen, Head of Research, Monaco Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: + 377 93 25 89 07 or + 33 678 631 959 Turid M. Sørensen, EVP & CFO, Norway Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +47 33 42 73 00 or +47 90 57 29 27 Gary J. Wolfe Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA Tel: +1 212 574 1223 Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman and CEO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel:  +1 866 805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291 Press Release (PDF): http://hugin.info/201/R/1671153/543212.pdf This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Nordic American Tankers Limited via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1671153]