Pride International, Inc. to Construct Additional Deepwater Drillship (PDE)

Pride International PDE today announced that the company has reached agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries, Ltd. (SHI) for the construction of a fifth ultra-deepwater drillship, further expanding the company's ultra-deepwater fleet size and drilling capabilities. Consistent with the company's previous four ultra-deepwater drillships ordered since 2007, the new unit will be constructed on a fixed price basis at the SHI shipyard in Geoje, South Korea, with an expected delivery in mid-2013. The rig will be equipped with some of the most technically advanced well construction features available in the offshore drilling industry, addressing a suite of superior capabilities to meet the needs of our clients, including advanced systems for hoisting, blow out preventer handling, drilling and mud controls and station-keeping. Louis A. Raspino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pride International, Inc., commented, "The placement of an order for the company's fifth ultra-deepwater drillship since 2007 is highly opportunistic, given the availability of attractive new construction pricing and payment terms. The expansion of our deepwater fleet allows us to more effectively address the increasingly complex well construction needs of our clients, with many featured systems on our new unit superior to those included on most other new build drillships, while building the critical mass that we believe is necessary to effectively compete and achieve success in the deepwater drilling sector. "The long-term outlook for the deepwater drilling sector is expected to remain fundamentally strong, supported by a continuation of record geologic success, increased expansion by clients into new emerging locations, growing preference by many clients for the industry's most advanced, efficient and safe drilling rigs, a continuing shift toward field development programs, new technologies that improve the recovery rates from deepwater reservoirs and an environment of sustainable crude oil prices that is supported by growth among numerous global economies. Given the long-term visibility afforded by these sector attributes, we are increasingly confident that additional deepwater capacity will be required by our clients as we advance through the next decade."