Deepwater Pathfinder secures Nigeria drilling

Nigerian subsidiaries of Devon Energy, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell have awarded Transocean Inc.'sDeepwater Pathfinder an 11-well exploration program offshore Nigeria under a drilling services sharing agreement. The estimated 475-day exploration program is expected to start in December 2004, following the rig's completion of a drilling project in the US Gulf of Mexico and an estimated 30-day mobilization to Nigeria. Revenues of approximately $90 million could be generated over the 475-day program, exclusive of revenues for mobilization and demobilization of the rig.

TheDeepwater Pathfinder is a dynamically positioned, ultra-deepwater drillship capable of operating in water depths of up to 10,000 ft. The rig entered service in 1998 following construction in the Samsung Shipyard in Korea. The rig is one of 28 high-specification floaters in the Transocean fleet, 17 of which are capable of drilling in 7,000 ft or greater water depths.

10/27/04