US Tax Reform BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in England and Wales Share code: BIL ISIN: GB0000566504 NEWS RELEASE Release Time IMMEDIATE Date 13 February 2018 Location Melbourne, Australia Release Number 02/18 US TAX REFORM As a result of the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introducing a reduction in the US Federal corporate income tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent as well as other measures, including changes to international tax provisions, BHP expects to recognise an income tax expense of US$1.8 billion which will be treated as an exceptional item. The two main components of this exceptional item are expected to be: * a non-cash re-measurement of deferred taxes as a result of the reduction in the US Federal corporate income tax rate of US$898 million; and * a non-cash impairment of foreign tax credits due to reduced forecast utilisation of US$834 million. The US tax reform will have a positive impact on the Group’s US attributable profits in the longer term mainly due to the lower corporate tax rate. Further information on BHP can be found at: bhp.com Sponsor: UBS South Africa (Pty) Limited Media Relations Investor Relations Email: media.relations@bhpbilliton.com Email: investor.relations@bhpbilliton.com Australia and Asia Australia and Asia Ben Pratt Tara Dines Tel: +61 3 9609 3672 Mobile: +61 419 968 734 Tel: +61 3 9609 2222 Mobile: +61 499 249 005 United Kingdom and South Africa United Kingdom and South Africa Neil Burrows Rob Clifford 1 Tel: +44 20 7802 7484 Mobile: +44 7786 661 683 Tel: +44 20 7802 4131 Mobile: +44 7788 308 844 North America Americas Judy Dane James Wear Tel: +1 713 961 8283 Mobile: +1 713 299 5342 Tel: +1 713 993 3737 Mobile: +1 347 882 3011 BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077 BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 LEI WZE1WSENV6JSZFK0JC28 LEI 549300C116EOWV835768 Registered in Australia Registered in England and Wales Registered Office: Level 18, 171 Collins Street Registered Office: Nova South, 160 Victoria Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia London SW1E 5LB United Kingdom Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015 Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111 Members of the BHP Group which is headquartered in Australia Follow us on social media 2 Date: 13/02/2018 08:13:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE'). The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on, information disseminated through SENS.