UPDATE 1-Transocean to move CEO to Switzerland

(Adds details, company comment)

HOUSTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Transocean Inc (RIG.N), the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, on Thursday said it plans to move its chief executive officer and incorporation to Switzerland for tax and strategic reasons.

Transocean, which is currently incorporated in the Cayman Islands and has its largest corporate offices in Houston, said its board of directors has approved the plan.

Robert Long, the company's chief executive officer and 14 other executives will relocate to Geneva.

"The redomestication will provide us with an improved ability to manage our businesses and better focus on strategic growth markets by locating our principal executive offices more centrally within Transocean's area of worldwide operations," Long said in a news release.

Switzerland also has a stable and developed tax regime and a network of tax treaties with most countries where the drilling contractor operates, Long added.

More than 80 percent of Transocean's revenue comes from overseas and more than 90 percent of the company's 137 drilling rigs work in waters outside the United States, Guy Cantwell, the company's spokesman, said.

Some of Transocean's largest customers include Norway's StatoilHydro (STL.OL), Britain's BP Plc (BP.L) and Italian oil company Eni SpA (EN.MI).

Last year, oilfield services company Halliburton Co (HAL.N) said it was moving its CEO to Dubai in a bid to win more business in the faster-growing energy markets in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Transocean's move requires the approval of the company's shareholders as well as the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. (Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston; Editing by Bernard Orr)