Oceaneering Announces New Build Diving Vessel

HOUSTON, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oceaneering International, Inc. (NYSE: OII) announced today it has commissioned the construction of a dive support vessel (DSV) with an estimated capital cost of $17 million. Oceaneering expects delivery of the 200 foot by 46 foot vessel from a U.S. Gulf Coast shipyard late in the fourth quarter of 2010. The new vessel will replace the Ocean Project, which was built in 1972.

This state-of-the-art DSV will be U.S. flagged and outfitted to perform subsea inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) services and support construction operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel will have built-in diving equipment, including a dive control system and decompression chambers, to maximize the availability of deck space for job specific equipment and to ensure safe working conditions. It will have accommodations for 50 personnel and be equipped with a 40-ton crane, a working moon pool, and a four-point mooring system enabling operations in 700 feet of

seawater.

T. Jay Collins, President and CEO, stated, "This purpose-built DSV will allow us to continue to support demand for our shallow water IRM and construction support services. There are over 3,500 platforms and approximately 20,000 miles of pipelines in use in the Gulf of Mexico that we believe will need servicing for the indefinite future."

In accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Oceaneering International, Inc. cautions that statements in this press release which are forward-looking involve risks and uncertainties that may impact Oceaneering's actual results. The forward-looking statements in this press release concern the estimated capital cost to construct a dive support vessel; the estimated vessel shipyard delivery date; and belief that in use platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico will need servicing for the indefinite future. Although Oceaneering's management believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking statement are reasonable, Oceaneering can give no assurance that the expectations will prove to have been correct. The statement is made based on various underlying assumptions and is subject to numerous uncertainties and risks, including without limitation, changes in vessel design or construction schedule, contract cancellation, change orders and other modifications, and difficulties executing on the vessel construction project. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. For a more complete discussion of these and other risk factors, please see Oceaneering's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Oceaneering is a global oilfield provider of engineered services and products primarily to the offshore oil and gas industry, with a focus on deepwater applications.

SOURCE Oceaneering International, Inc.