BATON ROUGE, La., Mar 22, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SGR) today announced that its Shaw Stone & Webster, Inc. unit has been selected by Aramco Overseas Company and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. to provide Deep Catalytic Cracking (DCC) technology for a grassroots High Olefin Fluid Catalytic Cracking (HOFCC) project at Saudi Aramco’s Rabigh petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia. DCC technology, originally developed by the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing and Sinopec (NYSE:SNP) (the national oil company of the People’s Republic of China), is a proprietary technology for the production of propylene and ethylene. Shaw’s Stone & Webster unit is the only licensed provider of DCC technology outside of China.

J.M. Bernhard, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Shaw, said, “We are very pleased that Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo have selected Shaw and DCC technology as the cornerstone for their $4.3 billion grassroots Rabigh refining and petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia. We believe that DCC technology is the best solution for producing ethylene and propylene from vacuum gas oils, from both a cost and product efficiency standpoint. We look forward to furthering our strategic relationship with these highly respected clients.”

Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical have signed a memorandum of understanding for the Rabigh upgrade and expansion project. This project represents Saudi Aramco’s first venture in petrochemical processing. The Saudi Aramco-Sumitomo Rabigh project will be a fully integrated petrochemical refinery with HOFCC producing 900,000 tons per year of propylene and 1,300,000 tons per year ethylene.

Aramco Overseas Company is a division of Saudi Aramco, the national oil and gas company of Saudi Arabia. Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. is one of Japan’s largest chemical companies with approximately one-third of its sales from petrochemical products such as polyethylene, polypropylene, elastomers and styrene monomer. Sumitomo’s diverse product range also extends to IT-related chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemical, and basic industrial chemicals such as caustic soda and methanol.

The Shaw Group Inc. is a leading global provider of technology, engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, fabrication, manufacturing, consulting, remediation, and facilities management services for energy, process, power, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response markets. A Fortune 500 company with over $3 billion in revenues, Shaw is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and employs approximately 18,000 people at its offices and operations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. For further information, please visit the Company’s website at www.shawgrp.com.

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 website under the heading “Forward-Looking Statements”. 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 website at www.shawgrp.com.

SOURCE: The Shaw Group Inc.

CONTACT:
The Shaw Group Inc., Baton Rouge
Chris D. Sammons
225-932-2546