DryShips Inc. Announces Closing of Private Offering of Shares of Ocean Rig UDW

ATHENS, GREECE - December 21, 2010 - DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS) (the "Company" or "DryShips"), a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk cargoes and offshore contract drilling oil services, announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary Ocean Rig UDW Inc. ("Ocean Rig"), has closed its offering by way of a private placement of shares of Ocean Rig's common stock (the "Shares") with total gross proceeds of $500 million. The offering was made to professional investors and eligible counterparties in Norway, to non-United States persons in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and in a concurrent private placement in the United States only to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act.

The net proceeds of the offering are expected to be used to finance the construction costs of the ultra deepwater newbuilding drillships under construction at Samsung, exercise options to build further ultra deepwater drillships and general corporate purposes. Following this transaction DryShips Inc. owns approximately 78% of Ocean Rig UDW Inc.

The Shares have not been registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to or for the benefit of U.S. persons unless so registered except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable securities laws in other jurisdictions.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the Shares, nor shall there be any sale of the Shares in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. Any offer of the Shares will be made only by means of a private placement memorandum.

In the European Economic Area, with respect to any Member State that has implemented Directive 2003/71/EC (together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State, the "Prospectus Directive") the information in respect of the Share offering is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive.

The joint lead managers for this transaction were DnB Nor Markets, Fearnley Fonds ASA and Pareto Securities AS.

About DryShips
DryShips Inc., based in Greece, is an owner and operator of drybulk carriers and offshore ultra deepwater drilling units that operate worldwide. As of the day of this release, DryShips owns a fleet of 39 drybulk carriers (including newbuildings), comprising 7 Capesize, 30 Panamax and 2 Supramax, with a combined deadweight tonnage of over 3.5 million tons and 6 offshore ultra deepwater drilling units, comprising of 2 ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling rigs and 4 ultra deepwater newbuilding drillships.

DryShips's 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.

DryShips Inc.