Pride Wins One Year Kazakh Contract For Rig 319

Pride International, Inc. has received a one-year contract plus two one-year options from Agip Kazakhstan North Caspian Operating Company N.V. (Agip KCO) for Pride's 3000 horsepower Rig 319. The rig is being modified and enhanced for deployment to an artificial island in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. Agip KCO is operator of the Kashagan field on behalf of a consortium of seven international companies: ENI's Agip Caspian Sea, BG Group, ExxonMobil, Inpex, Phillips, Shell and TotalFinaElf. Total contract value, excluding option periods, is in excess of $35 million, including modifications to the rig. Mobilization is expected to take place in the third quarter of 2002, with operations to commence in the second quarter of 2003.

Pride also announced that it has been awarded a one-year contract by Dominion Exploration & Production, Inc. for Pride's Rig 1503 (formerly Rig 1004) to conduct drilling operations on the "Devil's Tower" spar platform, located in 5,600 feet of water in Mississippi Canyon Block 773 in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. In connection with the contract, the rig will be upgraded from 1,000 to 1,500 horsepower and equipped for operations in a dynamic environment. Total contract value, including modifications, is approximately $11 million, and the contract is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2003.

"We are extremely pleased to have been selected by Agip KCO for the North Caspian project," said Paul A. Bragg, President and CEO of Pride. "It is a major logistical undertaking to deploy this rig to Agip KCO's artificial island, and we are enhancing the rig's capabilities to the highest level of technological specifications in connection with the contract." In commenting on the Devil's Tower project, Bragg continued, "The Dominion contract is our fifth to date, for the construction and operation of a drilling package for a deepwater spar or TLP."

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