Atwood Oceanic Clinches Contract to Drill Offshore Ivory Coast


ATWOOD OCEANICS, INC.,a Houston-based International Drilling Contractor, announced that the ATWOOD BEACON (owned and operated by our wholly-owned subsidiary, Atwood Oceanics Pacific Limited) has been awarded a contract by Edison International S.p.A. (Ivory Coast Branch) (“EDISON”) to drill one well offshore Ivory Coast at an operating dayrate of around $115,000.

The drilling program (including mobilization) is expected to take around 70 days to complete.

The rig is expected to complete its current drilling program with Hess Equatorial Guinea, Inc. on June 17, 2010 and is expected to be on zero rate from that date until it commences the Edison contract in early July 2010. Edison will provide the tow vessel and pay a dayrate of around $110,000 for the estimated eight (8) days required to relocate the rig from Equatorial Guinea to the Ivory Coast.

The Atwood Group owns and operates eight offshore oil and gas drilling rigs. Organized in 1968, Atwood Oceanics began operation by 1970. In 1972 Atwood was placed on the stock market and is currently under the symbol ATW on the New York Stock Exchange. The Atwood Group has conducted drilling operations in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Black Sea, Australia, East and West Africa, Southeast Asia, Mediterranean Sea, China, Far East, Papua New Guinea, India, Central and South America and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The Atwood Group’s American headquarters is in Houston, Texas. It also operates from Australia, Malaysia, Malta, Indonesia, Egypt and the United Kingdom.

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Source: Atwd, June 15, 2010;