Transocean Sedco

Schlumberger And Transocean Offshore Combine Forces

Schlumberger Limited and Transocean Offshore Inc. have signed a definitive merger agreement under which the offshore contract drilling business of Schlumberger (Sedco Forex Offshore) will be spun off and promptly combined with Transocean Offshore in a merger of equals. The resulting company, Transocean Sedco Forex, will be the world's largest offshore drilling company and is projected to become the fourth largest oilfield service company in terms of market capitalization. The transaction, which should close by December 31, 1999, is anticipated to be modestly dilutive to Transocean Offshore's current earnings expectations for 2000 and accretive thereafter. Under the proposed agreement, Schlumberger stockholders will own 52 percent of the fully diluted stock in the resulting company, Transocean Sedco Forex. The agreement has been approved by the Boards of Directors of Transocean Offshore and Schlumberger, and is subject to the approval of the stockholders of both companies as well as regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Following the closing of the transaction, the shares of Transocean Sedco Forex will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RIG. The merger of Transocean Offshore and Sedco Forex Offshore will bring together two of the most modern and versatile fleets in the offshore drilling industry and create a truly global offshore drilling company

Houghton Offshore Awarded Five-Year Contract

Houghton Offshore has entered into a five-year contract with Transocean Sedco Forex for the supply of the following fluids for Transocean Sedco Forex's global fleet of mobile offshore drilling units: water/glycol based blowout preventer (BOP) fluids, as well as motion compensator, riser tensioner, and other water-based fluids. The new contract follows Transocean's recent world record for the deepest well drilled to date using Houghton's Stack Magic 200 blowout preventor fluid (BOP)

Singapore Yard Completes $250M Transocean Rig

Singapore's Promet Private Ltd. (PPL) Shipyard completed construction of a $250 million semi-submersible oil drilling rig for offshore drilling contractor Transocean Sedco Forex. The rig, Cajun Express, was designed by Sedco Forex. The rig will be delivered to TSF in March and used by Marathon Oil for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Moody's Ups Transocean Offshore

Moody's Investors Service upgraded the senior unsecured debt ratings of Transocean Offshore, Inc. to A3 from Baa1 to reflect the significant benefits that the company will likely derive from its pending merger with Sedco Forex Holdings Limited (Sedco). The rating action ends a review of Transocean's ratings initiated on July 12 in response to the company's announcement that it had signed a definitive agreement under which Sedco, the offshore contract drilling business of Schlumberger Limited

Transocean Buys R&B Falcon In $5.3B Stock Deal

Transocean Sedco Forex Inc., already the world's biggest offshore oil-drilling contractor, agreed to buy R&B Falcon Corp. in a $5.3 billion stock deal that will make it the dominant deepwater driller. Under the agreement, approved by the boards of both companies, R&B Falcon stockholders will receive 0.5 shares of newly issued Transocean Sedco shares for each R&B Falcon share. Transocean will also assume approximately $3 billion in R&B Falcon debt

Transocean Sedco Forex Inc. Reports First Quarter 2000 Results

Transocean Sedco Forex Inc announced that net income for the three months ended March 31, 2000 was $32.5 million on revenues of $300.8 million. The results include a cash settlement of $25.1 million, relating to the previously reported agreement with BP Amoco to cancel the remaining 14 months of firm contract time on the semisubmersible Transocean Amirante. Net income for the corresponding three months in 1999 was $11.3 million on revenues of $189.2 million

Transocean Repowering Project

An innovative rig repowering collaborative between Wartsila NSD and Houston Ship Repair, Inc. was recently completed in the U.S. Gulf, involving the installation of new gensets on Semisubmersible Drilling Rig Transocean Amirante of Transocean Sedco Forex. The upgraded Semi, now installed with more than 8.0 generation capacity, was conceptualized in late 1998. The work required extreme flexibility in scheduling, and included the possibility of a quay side or offshore installation

Offshore Stocks Flying High As Boom Nears

It appears that the long awaited, much antipated and greatly debated offshore boom part II is prepared to launch again, as offshore drilling stocks surged on Thursday as U.S. crude oil prices hit a fresh nine-year high of $32.15 a barrel, fueling a second day of strong gains on Wall Street for the oilfield services sector. Drilling stocks across the board were flying high, some posting high single and low double digit gains for the day.

S&P Raises Transocean Offshore Ratings

Standard & Poor's raised its ratings for Transocean Offshore Inc., renamed Transocean Sedco Forex Inc. (See chart page 2, related story page 8) At the same time, Standard & Poor's assigned to the company an 'A-1' short-term corporate credit rating, an 'A-1' rating for its $500 million commercial paper program, and a single-'A' rating for its $400 million term loan maturing December 2004. The company's ratings are removed from CreditWatch with positive implications

Houghton Offshore Helps Set Another Record

Houghton Offshore has enabled the Transocean Sedco Forex to set a new world record for the deepest well drilled to date. The drillship Discoverer Spirit used a subsea blowout preventor (BOP), operating on a 2 percent mixture of Houghton Stack Magic 200 BOP fluid, as it drilled at 9,727 ft. below sea level in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, surpassing the previous record of 9,687 ft. set earlier this year. "The previous world record had been set on that same drillship using Houghton's BOP fluid in