Cal Dive Announces 2005 Earnings Guidance

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Cal Dive Announces 2005 Earnings Guidance
    HOUSTON, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cal Dive International, Inc.
(Nasdaq: CDIS) today announced 2005 earnings guidance in a range of $2.00 to
$2.70 per diluted share.  The company expects, as in 2004, a majority of 2005
earnings will occur in the third and fourth quarters.
    Owen Kratz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "This guidance
is a natural result of the CDI budgeting process and risk management approach.
It represents an attempt to provide transparency into the thought process of
CDI management.  Our budget is produced between September and December and
thus guidance will be issued only once each year at the beginning of the year.
Quarterly conference calls will focus upon a discussion of the accompanying
key variables (see attached list) plus any new issues not foreseen.  It is
management's view that quarterly earnings variances are too often a result of
timing differences and thus there will be no attempt to provide quarterly
guidance."
    Mr. Kratz continued, "It is noteworthy that the mid-point of the 2005
range is 57% higher than the same point in the 2004 guidance.  This shows that
management expects to deliver significant growth from our unique production
contracting based business model."
    Cal Dive International, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an
energy service company which provides alternate solutions to the oil and gas
industry worldwide for marginal field development, alternative development
plans, field life extension and abandonment, with service lines including
marine diving services, robotics, well operations, facilities ownership and
oil and gas production.

    This press release and attached presentation contain 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; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management
for future operations; any statement concerning developments, performance or
industry rankings relating to services; 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; as
described from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ending December 31, 2003.  We assume no obligation and do not intend
to update these forward-looking statements.

                                Key Variables

    Marine Contracting:  Revenues of $300 - 330 million with margins of
13% - 15%

       --  Market Demand:  Rates & Utilization
       --  Project Performance/Risk Mitigation
       --  Fleet Disposition:  Geographic Expansion
       --  Downtime: R&M, Drydock Costs/Weather Delays
       --  ROV:  Volume of Trenching Work
       --  Well Ops UK:  Norway/P&A Activity

    Oil & Gas:  Production of 40 to 45 BCFe with a Price Deck of $37.00/bbl
oil and $5.00/mcf gas

       --  Commodity Prices
       --  Production Rate
       --  Production Efficiency (LOE)
       --  Hedging Impact
       --  Success of Well Exploitation Program
       --  PUD and Mature Property Acquisitions
       --  DD&A Rate

    Production Facilities:  Equity in Deepwater Gateway Earnings of $22 - 27
million

       --  Marco Polo Facility: Production Rate from Marco Polo Reservoir
       --  New Wells:  Commencement of Production from K2 /K2 North
       --  Acquisitions:  Timing and Terms

    Corporate:  SG&A at 9% to 10% of Revenues

       --  Insurance:  Renewal Terms and Aggregate Deductibles Incurred
       --  Collection of Receivables
       --  Regulatory Compliance
       --  Foreign Currency Exchange
       --  Interest Rates
       --  Effective Tax Rate (36%)
       --  Commercial Dispute Resolution
       --  Average Shares Outstanding:  40 - 41 million
SOURCE Cal Dive International, Inc.
http://www.caldive.com
CONTACT:
Wade Pursell, Chief Financial Officer of Cal
Dive International, Inc., +1-281-618-0400, or fax,
+1-281-618-0505