Ocean Rig UDW Inc. Announces Drilling Contract for the Eirik Raude
News Release
Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (Corporate Head Office)
March 24, 2012
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=unicode" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19190"></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>Nicosia, Cyprus – March 22, 2012 – Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (NASDAQ:
ORIG) (the</P>
<P align=left>“Company” or “Ocean Rig”), a global provider of offshore deepwater
drilling</P>
<P align=left>services, today announced that it has signed a new drilling
contract for its semisubmersible</P>
<P align=left>drilling rig “Eirik Raude” with an independent operator, for
work</P>
<P align=left>offshore West Africa. The expected total backlog to complete the 2
well program is</P>
<P align=left>estimated at $ 67.5 million for a period of 84 days. The new
contract is expected to</P>
<P align=left>commence after the rig completes its scheduled 10-year special
survey. The customer</P>
<P align=left>has the option to extend the contract for one additional well for
an estimated duration</P>
<P>of approximately 40 days.</P></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=unicode" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19190"></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>Nicosia, Cyprus – March 22, 2012 – Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (NASDAQ:
ORIG) (the</P>
<P align=left>“Company” or “Ocean Rig”), a global provider of offshore deepwater
drilling</P>
<P align=left>services, today announced that it has signed a new drilling
contract for its semisubmersible</P>
<P align=left>drilling rig “Eirik Raude” with an independent operator, for
work</P>
<P align=left>offshore West Africa. The expected total backlog to complete the 2
well program is</P>
<P align=left>estimated at $ 67.5 million for a period of 84 days. The new
contract is expected to</P>
<P align=left>commence after the rig completes its scheduled 10-year special
survey. The customer</P>
<P align=left>has the option to extend the contract for one additional well for
an estimated duration</P>
<P>of approximately 40 days.</P></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>