OREANDA-NEWS. Transocean Ltd. announced today that Transocean Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary, has commenced an offering of U.S. $1.5 billion aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes pursuant to Rule 144A/Regulation S to eligible purchasers. The notes will be guaranteed by Transocean Ltd. and certain of Transocean Inc.'s subsidiaries.

Transocean intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from the offering to fund its tender offers to purchase for cash up to U.S. $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of its 6.500% Senior Notes due 2020, 6.375% Senior Notes due 2021 and 3.800% Senior Notes due 2022 (collectively, the "Existing Notes"), subject to the terms and conditions specified in the related offer to purchase, and a portion of the net proceeds from the offering are intended to be used for general corporate purposes. Should the tender offers not be consummated, or if net proceeds allocated to fund the tender offers remain following consummation of the tender offers, Transocean Inc. intends to also use such net proceeds for general corporate purposes.

The securities to be offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The securities to be offered may not be publicly offered, sold or advertised, directly or indirectly, in Switzerland. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of these securities in the United States, shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale of any securities in any jurisdiction where such offering or sale would be unlawful and does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations. This press release shall not constitute an offer to purchase the Existing Notes. The tender offers are being made only pursuant to the offer to purchase. This press release contains information about pending transactions, and there can be no assurance that these transactions will be completed. Any public offering of Transocean's securities in the United States will be made only by means of a prospectus that will contain detailed information about Transocean and its management, as well as financial statements. There shall not be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

About Transocean

Transocean is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells. The company specializes in technically demanding sectors of the global offshore drilling business with a particular focus on deepwater and harsh environment drilling services, and believes that it operates one of the most versatile offshore drilling fleets in the world.

Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of, 60 mobile offshore drilling units consisting of 29 ultra-deepwater floaters, seven harsh-environment floaters, four deepwater floaters, 10 midwater floaters, and 10 high-specification jackups. In addition, the company has five ultra-deepwater drillships and five high-specification jackups under construction.