Offshore staff

(Houston) - Cal Dive International, Inc. says that it has closed an asset purchase agreement with Torch Offshore, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Cal Dive paid $85 million for two shelf pipelay vessels, four shelf diving vessels, the deepwater pipelay vesselMidnight Express, and a portable saturation diving system, together with all equipment, inventory, and intellectual property and other assets related to the operations of the vessels.

"We expect to get the acquired assets back to work on a phased basis before the end of the year due to the need to drydock several of the vessels, " said Martin Ferron, president, Cal Dive.

He added that theMidnight Express will be placed into the active construction market this year in its present condition, but will require significant upgrade work next year to reach its optimum pipelay capability.

(Sept. 1, 2005)