Transocean Investors Uphold Executives’ Liability for 2010

May 19, 2011

Shareholders of rig contractor Transocean Ltd voted down a proposal by a healthy margin to discharge its board members and executives from liability for activities in 2010, according to a filing.

Votes in favor represented 44 percent of those cast, while 55 percent were against and the rest abstained, the Transocean filing with U.S. financial regulators said Wednesday.

Last year’s BP well blowout, which sank a Transocean rig and caused a disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, led to a flurry of legal actions as the parties involved and those affected by it seek to attribute blame and recover damages.

The same proposal a year before, to discharge Transocean’s board directors and executive officers from liability for activities in 2009, received 94 percent of the votes.

At the most recent shareholder meeting in Switzerland, the company also named a new chairman to succeed retiring Robert Rose, bringing back a former chief executive and chairman, Michael Talbert, to head its board.

(Reporting by Braden Reddall, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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