BATON ROUGE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2003--The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SGR) ("Shaw" or "the Company") today announced that its subsidiary, Stone & Webster, Inc., and joint venture partner JGC Corporation, were awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract with joint venture company China National Offshore Oil Company and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited for the Lower Olefins Plant which forms the centerpiece of the Nanhai Petrochemical Complex. The complex is the largest joint venture project undertaken in China to date.

The Lower Olefins Plant is an 800,000 metric tons per annum capacity ethylene plant to be located in Huizhou, Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China. JGC and Stone & Webster will jointly execute the engineering, procurement and construction of the plant. The plant cracks condensates and naphtha based on Stone & Webster's "Advanced Recovery System" and "Ultra Selective Conversion" technologies. Project completion is targeted for September 2005.

Nicholas Gallinaro, President of Stone & Webster's Process Division, stated, "This represents the first venture under what we believe is a mutually-beneficial alliance between JGC and Stone & Webster. Our proprietary technology was instrumental in receiving this award and further establishes Shaw's presence in China."

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. Additional information on The Shaw Group is available at www.shawgrp.com.

For more information, please contact Christine 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.

--30--AS/na*