Notice of Force Majeure by Atwood Oceanics

Atwood Oceanics

, announced that, on January 29, 2011, due to the civil unrest that has occurred in Egypt, our customer, RWE Dea Nile GmbH gave notice to Alpha Offshore Services Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atwood Oceanics, Inc., of a force majeure event affecting the operations of the Atwood Aurora which is presently operating offshore Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea. Provisions of the drilling contract provide for a day rate of 70% of the current operating rate of $133,000 during the first 15 days of the force majeure event. Thereafter, 50% of the operating rate will apply, up to remediation of the force majeure event or contract termination, whichever occurs first. The drilling contract can be terminated by either party after a 30 day period of a continuing force majeure event