Company Overview	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Company Overview
Company Overview	Note 2 – Company Overview We are an international offshore energy company that provides reservoir development solutions and other contracting services to the energy market as well as to our own oil and gas properties. Our Contracting Services segment utilizes our vessels, offshore equipment and methodologies to deliver services that may reduce finding and development costs and encompass the complete lifecycle of an offshore oil and gas field. Our Contracting Services are located primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Asia Pacific and West Africa regions. Our Oil and Gas segment engages in exploration, development and production activities. Our oil and gas operations are exclusively located in the Gulf of Mexico. Contracting Services Operations We seek to provide services and methodologies which we believe are critical to finding and developing offshore reservoirs and maximizing production economics. Our "life of field" services are segregated into four disciplines: subsea construction, well operations, robotics and production facilities. We have disaggregated our contracting services operations into two reportable segments: Contracting Services and Production Facilities. Our Contracting Services business primarily includes subsea construction, deepwater pipelay, well operations and robotics activities. Our Production Facilities business includes our equity investment in Deepwater Gateway, L.L.C. ("Deepwater Gateway") and Independence Hub, LLC ("Independence Hub") as well as our majority ownership of the Helix Producer I ("HP I") vessel. We have developed a response system that has been referenced as a designated spill response resource in Gulf of Mexico permit applications (see "Events in Gulf of Mexico" below), which is also a component of our Production Facilities segment. Oil and Gas Operations We began our oil and gas operations to provide a more efficient solution to offshore abandonment, to expand off-season utilization of our contracting services assets and to achieve incremental returns. We have evolved this business model to include not only mature oil and gas properties but also proved and unproved reserves yet to be explored and developed. This has led to the assembly of services that allows us to create value at key points in the life of a reservoir from exploration through development, life of field management and operating through abandonment. Events in Gulf of Mexico In April 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig located on the site of the Macondo well at Mississippi Canyon Block 252. The resulting events included loss of life, the complete destruction of the drilling rig and an oil spill, the magnitude of which was unprecedented in U.S. territorial waters. In May 2010, the U.S. Department of Interior ("DOI") announced a total moratorium on new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. In October 2010, the DOI lifted the drilling moratorium and instructed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement ("BOEMRE") that it could resume issuing drilling permits conditioned on the requesting company's compliance with all revised drilling, safety and environmental requirements. No post moratorium deepwater drilling permits were issued by BOEMRE until late February 2011. We developed the Helix Fast Response System ("HFRS") as a culmination of our experience as a responder in the Gulf oil spill response and containment efforts. The HFRS centers on two vessels, the HP I and the Q4000, both of which played a key role in the Gulf oil spill response and containment efforts and are presently operating in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2011, we signed an agreement with Clean Gulf Associates ("CGA"), a non-profit industry group, allowing, in exchange for a retainer fee, the HFRS to be named as a response resource in permit applications to federal and state agencies and making the HFRS available for a two-year term to certain CGA participants who have executed utilization agreements with us. In addition to the agreement with CGA, we currently have signed separate utilization agreements with 24 CGA participant member companies specifying the day rates to be charged should the HFRS be deployed in connection with a well control incident. The retainer fee for the HFRS became effective April 1, 2011 and is a component of our Production Facilities business segment. A total of 38 permits have been granted to CGA participants for deepwater drilling operations identifying the HFRS to fulfill the BOERME requirement to have a spill response and containment resource included in the submitted permit applications. New Accounting Pronouncement In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued an update to existing guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income. This update will require the presentation of the components of net income and other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement or in two separate but consecutive statements. In addition, companies are also required to present reclassification adjustments for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income on the face of the financial statements. The update is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2011. We will adopt the new disclosure requirements for comprehensive income beginning January 1, 2012 and are currently evaluating the provisions of this update.

We seek to provide services and methodologies which we believe are critical to finding and developing offshore reservoirs and maximizing production economics. Our "life of field" services are segregated into four disciplines: subsea construction, well operations, robotics and production facilities. We have disaggregated our contracting services operations into two reportable segments: Contracting Services and Production Facilities. Our Contracting Services business primarily includes subsea construction, deepwater pipelay, well operations and robotics activities. Our Production Facilities business includes our equity investment in Deepwater Gateway, L.L.C. ("Deepwater Gateway") and Independence Hub, LLC ("Independence Hub") as well as our majority ownership of the Helix Producer I ("HP I") vessel. We have developed a response system that has been referenced as a designated spill response resource in Gulf of Mexico permit applications (see "Events in Gulf of Mexico" below), which is also a component of our Production Facilities segment.

Oil and Gas Operations

We began our oil and gas operations to provide a more efficient solution to offshore abandonment, to expand off-season utilization of our contracting services assets and to achieve incremental returns. We have evolved this business model to include not only mature oil and gas properties but also proved and unproved reserves yet to be explored and developed. This has led to the assembly of services that allows us to create value at key points in the life of a reservoir from exploration through development, life of field management and operating through abandonment.

Events in Gulf of Mexico

In April 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig located on the site of the Macondo well at Mississippi Canyon Block 252. The resulting events included loss of life, the complete destruction of the drilling rig and an oil spill, the magnitude of which was unprecedented in U.S. territorial waters. In May 2010, the U.S. Department of Interior ("DOI") announced a total moratorium on new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. In October 2010, the DOI lifted the drilling moratorium and instructed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement ("BOEMRE") that it could resume issuing drilling permits conditioned on the requesting company's compliance with all revised drilling, safety and environmental requirements. No post moratorium deepwater drilling permits were issued by BOEMRE until late February 2011.

We developed the Helix Fast Response System ("HFRS") as a culmination of our experience as a responder in the Gulf oil spill response and containment efforts. The HFRS centers on two vessels, the HP I and the Q4000, both of which played a key role in the Gulf oil spill response and containment efforts and are presently operating in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2011, we signed an agreement with Clean Gulf Associates ("CGA"), a non-profit industry group, allowing, in exchange for a retainer fee, the HFRS to be named as a response resource in permit applications to federal and state agencies and making the HFRS available for a two-year term to certain CGA participants who have executed utilization agreements with us. In addition to the agreement with CGA, we currently have signed separate utilization agreements with 24 CGA participant member companies specifying the day rates to be charged should the HFRS be deployed in connection with a well control incident. The retainer fee for the HFRS became effective April 1, 2011 and is a component of our Production Facilities business segment. A total of 38 permits have been granted to CGA participants for deepwater drilling operations identifying the HFRS to fulfill the BOERME requirement to have a spill response and containment resource included in the submitted permit applications.

New Accounting Pronouncement

In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued an update to existing guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income. This update will require the presentation of the components of net income and other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement or in two separate but consecutive statements. In addition, companies are also required to present reclassification adjustments for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income on the face of the financial statements. The update is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2011. We will adopt the new disclosure requirements for comprehensive income beginning January 1, 2012 and are currently evaluating the provisions of this update.