Houston-based J. Ray McDermott (J. Ray), a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE: MDR), announces the award of a contract by PEMEX Exploración y Producción, Northeast Marine Region, for fabrication of the Maloob-C Drilling Platform.  The project is located in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field in the Bay of Campeche, Mexico, in 269 feet of water. 

“This is the first project award for our new fabrication facility at Altamira, Mexico,” says Bob Deason, J. Ray’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “I believe the Altamira facility will prove increasingly valuable for J. Ray in the coming years with its capabilities and deep water access to the Gulf of Mexico.” 

 Work on the drilling platform is scheduled to begin at Altamira in February 2008, and it is expected that over 275 craftsmen and professionals will be involved with the project. Designed to sustain 18 wells, the drilling platform will have a 3,200-short ton eight-legged jacket and a two-level deck weighing just over 2,500 short tons, with more than 3,300 short tons of piles.  The contract is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2009.    

 “The Altamira facility is a bright spot on the company’s long-term plan,” says Juan Manuel Pineda, J. Ray’s Mexico country manager. “The progress of its construction has been rapid since we broke ground in January 2007. Key features include a quayside water depth of 30 feet, a 984-foot bulkhead and two 328-foot skidways.”

 Under the lease agreement, J. Ray has the capability to extend the bulkhead length to 3,280 feet, which will provide the space needed to execute deepwater floating hull assemblies at Altamira.

J. Ray McDermott, S.A., a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR), and its subsidiaries provide engineering, construction, procurement, installation and project management services to offshore oil and gas developments worldwide.

 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.

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 McDermott’s actual results of operations.  The forward-looking statements in this press release include statements concerning the value, and project execution, of the PEMEX Maloob-C 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.  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, 2006 and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.