PRESS RELEASE: January 25, 2007

J. Ray McDermott Awarded North Belut Contract

McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR) (“McDermott”) announced today that a subsidiary of J. Ray McDermott, S.A. (“J. Ray”) was awarded a $125 million contract during the fourth quarter of 2006 for the fabrication, offshore hook-up and commissioning of the North Belut Central Processing Platform (“CPP”) topsides and a connecting bridge from the CPP to the Wellhead Platform. 

The North Belut CPP Platform is a complex integrated deck and weighs approximately 13,000 metric tons.  It will be built at J. Ray’s construction facility on Batam Island, Indonesia. 

“North Belut is the third significant integrated deck being fabricated in Batam in recent months – the first two being Arthit and Su Tu Vang,” said Bob Deason, President and Chief Operating Officer of J. Ray. “The Batam facility has undergone recent upgrades which permits working on three major integrated decks simultaneously well within our capability.” 

Construction work has already begun with the initial focus on plate girders fabrication and cellar deck panel assembly. Within four months, an extension skidway will be built to support the structure with the first stack of the cellar deck sub assembly scheduled for June 2007. In all, there will be nine deck sub assembly stackings.  At the peak of the construction, over 1,200 people are expected to work on the North Belut CPP. The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008. 

McDermott International, Inc. is a leading worldwide energy services company.  McDermott subsidiaries provide engineering, construction, installation, procurement, research, manufacturing, environmental systems, project management and facility management services to a variety of customers in the power and energy industries, including the U.S. Department of Energy.  Additional information on McDermott can be obtained 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 provide other than historical information involve risks and uncertainties that may impact McDermott’s actual results of operations.  The forward-looking statements in this press release include, among other things, the contract value, work scope and timing of North Belut CPP 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 based on various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous uncertainties and risks, including without limitation change orders and other modifications to contracts.  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 risk factors, please see McDermott’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and the Company’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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