Cal Dive Reports Second Quarter 2008 Results.

HOUSTON -- Cal Dive International, Inc. (NYSE:DVR) reported second quarter 2008 net income of $16.9 million, or $.16 per diluted share compared to $11.6 million and $.14 per diluted share for the same period of 2007. The increase is primarily due to non-recurring charges incurred during the second quarter of 2007 and profit contributions in the second quarter of 2008 from the Horizon Offshore assets acquired in late 2007. This increase was partially offset by lower vessel utilization as a result of the harsh weather conditions that extended into April and May of this year.

Quinn Hebert, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cal Dive, stated, "We continued to experience low utilization during April and May driven by continued poor weather in the Gulf of Mexico. The majority of our U.S. fleet returned to work offshore in June and we expect higher vessel utilization during the second half of the year. However, the activity levels in the first two months of the second quarter were well below our expectations and left us behind our targeted performance objective for the year to this point. Since our projections already included a strong second half of the year, we are adjusting our guidance range for 2008 to $225 million to $265 million in EBITDA and $.80 to $1.10 in earnings per share.

We are glad to have the fleet back to work and are encouraged by our backlog which stands at approximately $484 million as of June 30, 2008. We are also still on track to generate approximately one-third of our revenue from international markets this year."

Financial Highlights

* Revenues: Second quarter 2008 revenues increased by $36.7 million to $172.0 million as compared to the second quarter of 2007, primarily due to revenue contributions from certain Horizon assets acquired in late 2007. The increase in revenues was partially offset by lower vessel utilization resulting from the harsh weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico during the second quarter of 2008.

* Gross Profit: Second quarter 2008 gross profit increased by $1.7 million to $47.3 million as compared to the second quarter 2007, primarily due to the acquisition of Horizon in late 2007. The increase was largely offset by decreased vessel utilization due to weather conditions as described above as well as increased depreciation and amortization expense.

* SG&A: Second quarter 2008 SG&A increased by $6.9 million over the second quarter 2007, primarily due to the acquisition of Horizon in late 2007 (including approximately $.9 million of non-cash amortization of related intangible assets), increased employee benefit costs and increased information technology costs.

* Net Interest Expense: Second quarter 2008 net interest expense increased by $2.6 million over the second quarter of 2007, due to the term loan borrowings incurred in late 2007 in connection with the acquisition of Horizon.

* Income Tax Expense: The effective tax rate for the second quarter 2008 was 31.0% compared to 47.3% for the same period in 2007. The rate decrease is primarily due to the tax treatment of certain non-recurring items incurred during the second quarter of 2007 and an increased percentage of income being earned in foreign jurisdictions in 2008 with lower income tax rates.

* Balance Sheet: Total debt was $344.5 million and cash and cash equivalents were $5.9 million for a net debt position of $338.6 million as of June 30, 2008.

Further details will be provided during Cal Dive's conference call, scheduled for 11 a.m. Central Time on July 31, 2008. The teleconference dial-in numbers are: 866-831-6267 (domestic), 617-213-8857 (international), passcode 93380697. Investors will be able to obtain the slide presentation and listen to the live conference call broadcast from the Investor Relations page at http://www.caldive.com. A replay will also be available from the Investor Relations-Presentations page.

Cal Dive International, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a marine contractor that provides an integrated offshore construction solution to its customers, including manned diving, pipelay and pipe burial services, and platform installation and salvage services to the offshore oil and natural gas industry on the Gulf of Mexico OCS, Mexico, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia, with a fleet of 31 vessels, including 21 surface and saturation diving support vessels and 10 construction barges.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

This press release may include "forward-looking" statements that are generally identifiable through our use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "project" and similar expressions and include any statements that we make regarding our earnings expectations. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new information or events as they occur. Our actual future results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including changes in the level of offshore exploration, development and production activity in the oil and natural gas industry, our inability to obtain contracts with favorable pricing terms if there is a downturn in our business cycle, intense competition in our industry, the operational risks inherent in our business, risks associated with our relationship with Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc., our controlling stockholder, and other risks detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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