Houston-based Cobalt International Energy LP has been launched with $500 million in financial backing from Carlyle/Riverstone and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The new E&P company will engage in exploration and production in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and other high-potential global basins. Joseph H. Bryant will be chairman and chief executive of Cobalt. Bryant was president and chief operating officer of Unocal Corp. Samuel H. Gillespie will be vice chairman. Gillespie was general counsel of Mobil Corp. and Unocal. James H. Painter will be executive vice president of exploration. Painter was senior vice president of exploration at Unocal and Ocean Energy. James W. Farnsworth will be president and COO. Farnsworth was vice president for worldwide exploration and technology at BP. Laura E. Munoz of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz will also join the company as executive vice president and general counsel. Kenneth Pontarelli, managing director of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, says, "We expect the Cobalt team to be formidable players from day one. They will engage in high-impact exploration on a global scale. The investor team of Goldman Sachs and Carlyle/Riverstone provides Cobalt the means to compete anywhere in the world."