DRYSHIPS INC.
ATHENS, GREECE - January 8, 2015 - DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) (the "Company" or "DryShips") a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk and petroleum cargoes, and through its majority owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig UDW Inc. ("Ocean Rig"), of offshore deepwater drilling services, today announced that certain of Ocean Rig's subsidiaries have entered into an Omnibus Agreement (hereafter referred to as the "Agreement") with ENI Angola S.p.A (hereafter referred to as "ENI") pursuant to which ENI has exercised its option to extend the contract for the drillship Ocean Rig Poseidon for a further one year until the second quarter of 2017.
As part of the contract extension for the Ocean Rig Poseidon, Ocean Rig has agreed to adjust the existing dayrate of the Ocean Rig Poseidon contract in exchange for ENI agreeing to enter into two contracts (the "New ENI Contracts") for the employment of one or more of Ocean Rig's available drillships in West Africa starting in the first quarter of 2015 for an aggregate period of approximately 8 months. As a result of this Agreement the total contract backlog of Ocean Rig has increased by approximately $187.0 million. The Agreement outlined above remains subject to customary closing conditions including the approval by national authorities which Ocean Rig expects will be obtained before the end of the first quarter of 2015.
DryShips Inc. is an owner of drybulk carriers and tankers that operate worldwide. Through its majority owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig UDW Inc., DryShips owns and operates 13 offshore ultra deepwater drilling units, comprising of 2 ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling rigs and 11 ultra deepwater drillships, 1 of which is scheduled to be delivered to Ocean Rig during 2015, 1 of which is scheduled to be delivered to Ocean Rig during 2016 and 2 of which are scheduled to be delivered during 2017. DryShips owns a fleet of 39 drybulk carriers, comprising 13 Capesize, 24 Panamax and 2
Supramax with a combined deadweight tonnage of approximately 4.3 million tons, and
10 tankers, comprising 4 Suezmax and 6 Aframax, with a combined deadweight tonnage of over 1.3 million tons.
DryShips' common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market where it trades under the symbol "DRYS."
Visit the Company's website at www.dryships.com
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Forward-Looking Statement
Matters discussed in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with such safe harbor legislation.
Forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance and may include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.
Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including changes in charterhire and drilling dayrates and drybulk vessel, drilling rig and drillship values, failure of a seller to deliver one or more drilling rigs, drillships or drybulk vessels, failure of a buyer to accept delivery of a drilling rig, drillship, or vessel, inability to procure acquisition financing, default by one or more charterers of our ships, changes in demand for drybulk commodities or oil, changes in demand that may affect attitudes of time charterers and customer drilling programs, scheduled and unscheduled drydockings and upgrades, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents and political events or acts by terrorists.
Risks and uncertainties are further described in reports filed by DryShips Inc. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 20-F.
Nicolas Bornozis
Capital Link, Inc. (New York) Tel. 212-661-7566
E-mail: dryships@capitallink.com
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