Shell Extends Atwood Falcon's Contract

Atwood Oceanics announced that the Atwood Falcon has been awarded an extension by Sarawak Shell Berhad / Sabah Shell Petroleum of the existing contract. With this extension, the rig's current contract commitment will be extended from August 24, 2011 until between November 24, 2011 and January 24, 2012, depending on the length of the drilling program. The value of the contract extension is estimated to be between $27 million and $45 million.

With the execution of this contract extension, all of our deepwater semisubmersible drilling units are now fully contracted through fiscal year 2011, and our current contract backlog is approximately $1.2 billion.