Nature of Business

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Nature of Business

Nature of Business

Note 1—Nature of Business

Transocean Ltd. (together with its subsidiaries and predecessors, unless the context requires otherwise, “Transocean,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells.  Our mobile offshore drilling fleet is considered one of the most modern and versatile fleets in the world.  Specializing in technically demanding sectors of the offshore drilling business with a particular focus on deepwater and harsh environment drilling services, we contract our drilling rigs, related equipment and work crews predominantly on a dayrate basis to drill oil and gas wells.  At September 30, 2011, we owned or had partial ownership interests in and operated 133 mobile offshore drilling units.  As of this date, our fleet consisted of 48 High-Specification Floaters (Ultra-Deepwater, Deepwater and Harsh Environment semisubmersibles and drillships), 25 Midwater Floaters, nine High-Specification Jackups, 50 Standard Jackups and one Other Rig.  We also have four High-Specification Jackups under construction.  See Note 10—Drilling Fleet.

On August 26, 2011, we commenced an all cash voluntary offer (the “Offer”) for 100 percent of the shares of Aker Drilling ASA (“Aker Drilling”), a Norwegian company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, for NOK 26.50 per share.  Aker Drilling operates two Harsh Environment, Ultra-Deepwater semi-submersibles currently on long-term contracts to Statoil ASA and Det norske oljeselskap ASA in Norway.  In 2014, we expect to take delivery of two Ultra-Deepwater drillships currently under construction at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. shipyard in Korea.  The Offer price represented an equity market capitalization of approximately NOK 7.93 billion, or $1.43 billion based on an exchange rate of NOK 5.53 to USD 1.00.  See Note 4—Marketable Security and Note 18—Subsequent Events.

We also provide oil and gas drilling management services, drilling engineering and drilling project management services through Applied Drilling Technology Inc., our wholly owned subsidiary, and through ADT International, a division of one of our U.K. subsidiaries (together, “ADTI”).  ADTI conducts drilling management services primarily on either a dayrate or a completed-project, fixed-price (or “turnkey”) basis.  We also participated in oil and gas exploration, development and production activities through our oil and gas subsidiaries, Challenger Minerals Inc. and Challenger Minerals (North Sea) Limited (together, “CMI”), which were classified as discontinued operations as of September 30, 2011.  See Note 8—Discontinued Operations and Note 18—Subsequent Events.