MDR McDermott International Inc

McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR) (�McDermott�), announced today that a subsidiary of J. Ray McDermott, S.A. (�J. Ray�) was awarded a contract to construct the North Rankin B (�NRB�) Platform Substructure and Piles by Woodside Energy Limited for the North Rankin Redevelopment Project. The scope of work for this contract includes the fabrication and loadout of the 22,000 metric ton jacket (including buoyancy tanks), 18,900 metric tons of piles and the bridge link (approximately 100 meters long) to the North Rankin A Platform. Contracts of this nature are typically valued in excess of $100 million, which was included in McDermott�s backlog at December 31, 2007. �Completing the NRB substructure will be a major milestone for our Batam Island, Indonesia facility, as this will be the largest jacket ever built in the Southeast Asia region,� said Bob Deason, President & Chief Executive Officer of J. Ray. �This award confirms our strong working relationship with Woodside. Their decision to award this project underscores Woodside�s confidence in J. Ray�s ability to deliver large structural projects on time.� The North Rankin Redevelopment Project will provide additional compression to unlock low pressure reserves from the North Rankin and Perseus gas and condensate fields off Karratha, Western Australia. The NRB project, once completed will ensure continued gas supplies to the North West Shelf Venture�s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. Construction work will be performed at J. Ray�s facility on Batam Island, Indonesia and is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2008. At the peak of construction activities, 1,300 people are expected to work on the project. McDermott is an engineering and construction company, with specialty manufacturing and service capabilities, focused on energy infrastructure. McDermott�s customers are predominantly utilities and other power generators, major and national oil companies, and the United States Government. With its global operations, McDermott operates in over 20 countries with more than 20,000 employees, and can be found on the internet at www.mcdermott.com. In accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, McDermott International, Inc., cautions that statements in this press release which are forward-looking and which provide other than historical information, involve risks and uncertainties that may impact actual results. The forward-looking statements in this press release include statements concerning the typical value of projects of this nature, the scope, execution and timing of the North Rankin B Project. Although McDermott's management believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, McDermott can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Those statements are made by using various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous uncertainties and risks, including, but not limited to, the risk that McDermott may experience delays or other difficulties executing such contract. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. For a more complete discussion of these and other risk factors, please see McDermott's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.