Notification of Major Interest in Shares

Issued by:

BHP Billiton Plc

Date:

7 February 2013

To:

London Stock Exchange

Australian Securities Exchange

cc:

JSE Limited

New York Stock Exchange

For Release:

Immediately

Contact:

Elizabeth Hobley +44 (0) 20 7802 4054

BHP Billiton Plc - Notification of Major Interest in Shares

BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077

Registered in Australia

Registered Office: 180 Lonsdale Street

Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia

Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015

BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209

Registered in England and Wales

Registered Office: Neathouse Place

London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom

Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111

Members of the BHP Billiton group which is headquartered in Australia

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuerof existing shares to which voting rights areattached: ii

BHP Billiton Plc

GB0000566504

2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights

X

An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached

An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights

Other (please specify):

3. Full name of person(s) subject to thenotification obligation: iii

Norges Bank

4. Full name of shareholder(s)  (if different from 3.):iv

N/A

5. Date of the transaction and date onwhich the threshold is crossed orreached: v

5 February 2013

6. Date on which issuer notified:

6 February 2013

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed orreached: vi, vii

Above 3%

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares viii, ix

Class/type ofshares

if possible usingthe ISIN CODE

Situation previousto the triggeringtransaction

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

NumberofShares

NumberofVotingRights

Numberof shares

Number of votingrights

% of voting rights x

Direct

Direct xi

Indirect xii

Direct

Indirect

GB0000566504

63,197,012

63,197,012

63,635,068

63,635,068

3.01%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Expirationdate xiii

Exercise/Conversion Period xiv

Number of votingrights that may beacquired if theinstrument isexercised/ converted.

% of votingrights

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Exercise price

Expiration date xvii

Exercise/Conversion period xviii

Number of voting rights instrument refers to

% of voting rights xix, xx

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Nominal

Delta

N/A

N/A

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

63,635,068

3.01%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or thefinancial instruments are effectively held, if applicable: xxi

N/A

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:

Norges Bank

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will ceaseto hold:

N/A

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to holdvoting rights:

N/A

13. Additional information:

None

14. Contact name:

Stanislav Boiadjiev

15. Contact telephone number:

+47 2407 3142