Deepwater Discovery awarded two-year contract

Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd. has awarded Transocean's high-specification drillship, theDeepwater Discovery, a two-year contract to provide drilling services for Total's Akpo field development offshore Nigeria. The two-year contract is expected to start in July 2006, with revenues of approximately $263 million possible over the contract period, excluding revenues for mobilization, demobilization, and client reimbursables. The Deepwater Discovery is currently providing exploration drilling services offshore West Africa while under a multiple well contract with several customers that includes a number of option wells to extend the contract. If all of the option wells are exercised, the current contract could extend into 2Q 2006.

TheDeepwater Discovery is a fifth-generation, dynamically positioned drillship capable of operating in water depths of up to 10,000 ft. The rig entered active service in 2000 following its construction in the Samsung Shipyard in Korea and is one of 32 high-specification rigs in the Transocean Inc. fleet, 13 of which are fifth-generation rigs.

06/23/05