Rig: Deepwater Corcovado

Ocean rig awarded contract extensions for 'Ocean Rig Corcovado' and 'Ocean Rig Mykonos'

Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (”Ocean Rig”), an international contractor of offshore deepwater drilling services, today announced that it has been awarded extensions of the drilling contracts for its Ocean Rig Corcovado and Ocean Rig Mykonos drillships. The extensions were awarded by Petrobras, the Brazilian NOC and are subject to partner approvals. The term of each extension is 1,095 days, with a total combined revenue backlog of over USD1.1 billion, exluding reimbursement by Petrobras for contract related equipment upgrades. The new contracts will commence in direct continuation of the two rigs current agreements with Petrobras.

Corcovado arrives at quayside

In wintery weather on Monday 5th December one of Ocean Rig’s four new drillships, the Corcovado arrived in Vats from a project in Greenland. Unfortunately a rig at Westcon changed their plans so there was insufficient quay capacity at the Westcon Yard, therefore the Corcovado will be in Vats for its upgrade project. Westcon will assist with preparation of the vessel for a contract in South America for the Brazilian company Petrobras.

Exploration Offshore Greenland

Cairn has commenced drilling operations on two wells offshore West Greenland. The AT-7 well in the Atammik Block, approximately 160 kilometres offshore Nuuk, west Greenland and the LF-7 well in the Lady Franklin Block approximately 300 kilometres offshore Nuuk have both started operating. The Leiv Eiriksson, a fifth generation semi submersible and the Ocean Rig Corcovado, a sixth generation drillship, are to carry out the drilling programme offshore Greenland this summer. The AT-7 prospect in the Atammik Block and LF-7 prospect in the Lady Franklin Block are in water depths of 905 and 989 metres respectively. An update on the drilling operations will be provided in due course.

Cairn secures rigs for 2011 Greenland Exploration

Cairn has secured two state of the art dynamically positioned drilling vessels for its 2011 dual rig exploration programme offshore Greenland. The “Leiv Eiriksson”, a fifth generation semi-submersible drilling rig and the “Ocean Rig Corcovado”, a sixth generation drillship, have been contracted to operate in the 2011 drilling season on Cairn’s offshore Greenland exploration programme. Both drilling vessels are operated by Ocean Rig. Subject to approval from the Government of Greenland, Cairn intends to drill up to four wells in 2011. Further details on the exploration programme will be provided in Cairn’s next operational update. To provide the immediate liquidity required to enable the group to agree these contracts, Cairn has entered into a stand-by secured revolving debt facility of US $900 million that will also provide funding for general corporate purposes. The facility is provided by Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of Scotland Plc, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, HSBC Bank PLC and Société Générale.

Dryships Inc order two UDW drillships

DryShips Inc., (“Dryships”) today announced that it has exercised its option to acquire two advanced capability drillships for use in ultra-deep water drilling locations. The drillships, are to be constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (“SHI”) and are expected to be delivered from the shipyard in the third quarter of 2011. The expected delivered cost of the newbuild drillships is approximately USD800 million per unit. The company expects to receive shortly a firm commitment for the debt portion to finance construction and other payments. Mr. George Economou, Chairman and CEO of DryShips, commented: “I am very excited with our agreement to construct two premium, ultra deep water drillships, which is in line with our strategy of expanding our presence in the ultra-deep water drilling sector. We hope that our pending mandatory tender offer for the acquisition of Ocean Rig ASA will be approved by its shareholders in early June. The successful acquisition of Ocean Rig will give us the operating platform necessary to construct, complete and operate these two drillships to the highest standards. Going forward weplan to expand our asset portfolio with further acquisitions and explore other strategic alternatives including the possibility of spinning off this business unit to our shareholders.”