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DSIC-Offshore Told to Suspend Work on Rigs’ Jacking Systems (China)

December 6, 2012

DSIC-Offshore Told to Suspend Work on Rigs' Jacking Systems

Prospector Offshore Drilling S.A.(PROS), which has four jack-up rigs under construction in Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore Co. Ltd. (DSIC-Offshore), was informed on Wednesday that DSIC-Offshore has been notified by Friede & Goldman Marketing BV (F&G) to temporarily suspend work on the Rigs’ jacking systems, pending testing.

F&G is the engineering firm that has designed the jack-up and which has supplied the entire jacking system through their own sub-suppliers.

The F&G notice follows a recent incident involving another drilling company’s F&G design jack-up rig that is under construction at a shipyard outside of China. DSIC-Offshore had previously experienced issues with some of the components of the jacking systems of F&G rigs currently under construction at their yard, and was investigating the jacking systems before receiving the letter from F&G.  PROS believes that these issues, to the extent they refer to its Rigs, are limited in scope. The Company is cooperating closely with DSIC-Offshore, F&G and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), independent classification society, to resolve these issues.

The Company’s first rig, PROSPECTOR 1, was previously expected to be delivered at the end of January 2013 and mobilized to the North Sea for a long term drilling contract. At this time, PROS cannot estimate any impact on the delivery date of PROSPECTOR 1 until the evaluation of the jacking system is complete, which is anticipated to be within the next few weeks. PROS is currently developing a number of alternative solutions to replace any components, which might be found non-compliant, and minimize any delay to the delivery schedule.

Bill Rose, President and CEO, commented: “We appreciate the prudent steps taken by F&G and DSIC-Offshore to ensure safe delivery of a very high quality drilling unit conforming to our specifications and the highest industry standards. The F&G JU2000E jack-up is a proven design and has operated in the areas like the North Sea, and we expect a quick resolution.”

PROS is a high specification jack-up drilling contractor. PROS has contracts for the construction of six F&G JU2000E high specification, harsh environment (HS/HE) jack-ups with deliveries commencing Q1 2013; the sale of shares of two of the rig owning subsidiaries is pending. Additionally, PROS has options for six rigs of the same design. Upon deployment, PROS will have the newest fleet of HS/HE jack-ups in the world, operating with the most advanced drilling systems under a proven management team.

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PROS, December 6, 2012