News Release

BATON ROUGE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2003--The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SGR) ("Shaw" or "the Company") today announced that its subsidiary, Shaw Constructors, Inc., has been awarded a contract with the Dow Chemical Company for the construction of a Polymeric Methylene Diisocyanate (PMDI) facility in Freeport, Texas. Upon completion, the plant will be the largest single-train capacity PMDI facility in the world.

PMDI is a highly versatile product used to produce a wide variety of rigid, flexible, semi-rigid and polyisocyanurate and thermoset foams.

Shaw's scope includes erection of structural steel, setting of major mechanical equipment and the installation of process piping to be supplied by Shaw. Shaw's project scope is scheduled to begin in January 2003 with an anticipated completion date of February 2004.

"This is a significant project for Dow and we believe this award speaks very well of Shaw's long-standing relationship with Dow and their continued confidence in our company and our ability to offer value-added services through our capabilities," stated Richard F. Gill, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The Shaw Group. "As we begin to see an up-turn in the domestic process industry, we believe we are well-positioned with existing clients, as well as new prospects, to benefit from this growth, particularly in the Gulf Coast region."

The Shaw Group Inc. is a leading global provider of comprehensive services to the power, process, and environmental and infrastructure industries. Shaw is a vertically integrated provider of comprehensive engineering, procurement, pipe fabrication, construction and maintenance services to the power and process industries. Shaw is also a leader in the environmental, infrastructure and homeland defense markets providing consulting, engineering, construction, remediation and facilities management services to governmental and commercial customers. The Company is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with offices and operations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region and employs approximately 17,000 people.

For additional information, please contact Christine N. Mollere, Vice President of Corporate Communications, at 225/932-2500.

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for certain forward-looking statements. The statements contained herein that are not historical facts (including without limitation statements to the effect that the Company or its management "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," or other similar expressions) and statements related to revenues, earnings, backlog, or other financial information or results are forward-looking statements based on the Company's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the Company. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated by the Company. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions and are subject to change based upon various factors. Should one or more of such risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. A description of some of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements can be found in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, reports and on the Company's web-site under the heading "Forward Looking Statement". These documents are also available from the Securities and Exchange Commission or from the Investor Relations department of Shaw. For more information on the company and announcements it makes from time to time on a regional basis visit our web site at www.shawgrp.com.

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