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EXHIBIT 99.1
 |
PRESSRELEASE
www.HelixESG.com
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Helix Energy
Solutions Group, Inc. · 400
N. Sam Houston Parkway E., Suite 400 · Houston,
TX 77060-3500 ·
281-618-0400 · fax:
281-618-0505
For Immediate
Release 10-004
Contact: Tony
Tripodo (EVP & CFO)
Date: March
8,
2010 Cameron
Wallace (Investor Relations)
Helix
Updates Strategic Direction for Oil & Gas Business
And
Announces Departure of Robert Murphy
Helix Energy
Solutions (NYSE: HLX) announces today that it is engaging financial advisors to
assist the Company in evaluating the strategic alternatives available for a
complete divestment of its oil and gas business.
In December of
2008, the Company announced that it intends to divest an array of non-core
assets, including all or part of its oil and gas assets. Since that
announcement, the Company has divested nearly all of its interest in Cal Dive
International and 100% of its reservoir consulting business, Helix RDS, and has
sought to divest portions of its Gulf of Mexico shelf oil and gas assets. The
Company believes the business environment has become more favorable for a
transaction and will now look at the alternatives available to divest its entire
oil and gas business.
The Company is
unable to be specific with respect to a timetable for a divestment of its oil
and gas business and there are many factors that will affect its ability to
execute on a divestment, but it intends to aggressively focus on the
monetization of its oil and gas business in order to complete its transformation
to becoming a contracting services company focused on its core competencies in
deepwater well intervention and subsea construction.
In connection with
the underlying strategy and objectives concerning its oil and gas business, the
Company announced that Robert P. Murphy, Executive Vice President-Oil and Gas,
is leaving the Company. Johnny Edwards, the former head of Helix’s oil and gas
business and currently the president of the Company’s oil and gas subsidiary,
will return to his role to lead the Company’s oil and gas division.
Owen Kratz,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Helix, stated, “Robert Murphy has
played a major role in the success of Helix in the development of our deepwater
oil and gas business. Since Robert initially joined the Company, we have
embarked on a different strategic direction for our oil and gas
business. We appreciate all that Robert has done for Helix during his
three and a half year tenure with the Company, and we wish him the best of
success. I am pleased to have Johnny Edwards step back in to head our
oil and gas operations and to assist us with evaluating our strategic options
for that business. Johnny Edwards has served Helix for 16 years and is extremely
familiar with the Company and its oil and gas business.”
Helix Energy
Solutions, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an international offshore energy
company that provides development solutions and other key life of field services
to the open energy market as well as to our own oil and gas business
unit. That business unit is a prospect generation, exploration,
development and production company. Employing our own key services
and methodologies, we seek to lower finding and development costs, relative to
industry norms.
This press release
contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and
assumptions that could cause our results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements, other
than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, any projections of
revenue, gross margin, expenses, earnings or losses from operations, or other
financial items; future production volumes, results of exploration,
exploitation, development, acquisition and operations expenditures, and
prospective reserve levels of property or wells; any statements of the plans,
strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statement
concerning developments, performance or industry rankings; any statements
regarding future economic conditions or performance; any statements of
expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the
foregoing. The risks, uncertainties and assumptions referred to above include
the performance of contracts by suppliers, customers and partners; employee
management issues; complexities of global political and economic developments;
geologic risks and other risks described from time to time in our reports filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2009. We
assume no obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking
statements.