[StBernard] From an article I read on Transocean

[Westley Annis]

	Five days after appearing before Congress to testify about its
responsibility in one of the worst oil spills in US history, the Swiss
company that owned and operated the oil rig that sunk into the Gulf of
Mexico announced that it would shell out $1 billion in dividends to
shareholders.

	The revelation that Transocean is distributing a $1 billion profit
to shareholders as one of its drill sites leaks millions of gallons of oil
into the sea is sure to inflame an already smarting debate over offshore
drilling and the company's role.

	Transocean has passionately argued that they don't share financial
responsibility for the disaster. A clause in a contract they had with BP
says that the oil company is obligated to pay for any environmental damage,
even though Transocean actually owned the rig. BP was leasing the rig from
Transocean at the time of the accident.

	Transocean's distribution to shareholders was done quietly on Friday
at a "closed door meeting." The company had previously announced that they
would vote on the dividend at the event.

	To put the distribution in perspective, the amount of profit that
Transocean plans to pay out in the next year is half of what Exxon
ultimately paid for the Exxon Valdez disaster off the Alaska Coast.

	It's also more than double what BP has said they've spent on the
cleanup to date.

	The company also made a paper gain from their insurance carrier
after the Deepwater Horizon rig collapsed into the ocean aflame.

	Transocean had insured the rig for $560 million, but apparently
never spent that much money actually building it. The company's CEO told
investors on a recent conference call that the firm had book a $270 million
"accounting gain" on the difference between the real value of the rig and
the amount that they'd insured it for.

	Since the rig collapsed, the company said they've already received
$401 million from their insurance policy.

JY