Willbros Closes Sale of Its Venezuelan Businesses

HOUSTON, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Willbros Group, Inc. announced today that it has closed the transaction for the sale of its Venezuelan businesses. As previously reported, Willbros determined that it would cease operations in Venezuela and sell all its remaining businesses associated with Venezuelan assets and operations. As anticipated by the Company, Willbros recognized no gain or loss on disposal. The transaction included the marine yard and offices located on Lake Maracaibo, the marine equipment in Venezuela and the Company's interest in a project providing water injection services for production in Lake Maracaibo.

Mike Curran, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The sale of the Venezuelan businesses removes the uncertainty associated with our presence in that market and allows us to redeploy resources to manage and execute the record backlog in North America."

Willbros Group, Inc. is an independent contractor serving the oil, gas and power industries, providing engineering and construction, and facilities development and operations services to industry and government entities worldwide. For more information on Willbros, please visit our web site at http://www.willbros.com/ .

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address activities, events or developments the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, are forward-looking statements. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements, including those discussed above and such things as the potential for additional investigations, the possible losses arising from the discontinuation of operations and the sale of the Nigeria assets, fines and penalties by government agencies, the financial impact of the internal investigation, litigation that may arise from the investigation, the outcome of the current Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Foreign Assets Control and Department of Justice investigations; the identification of one or more other issues that require restatement of one or more prior period financial statements; the existence of material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting; availability of quality management; availability and terms of capital; changes in, or the failure to comply with, government regulations; ability to remain in compliance with, or obtain waivers under, the Company's loan agreements and indentures; the promulgation, application, and interpretation of environmental laws and regulations; future E&P capital expenditures, oil, gas, gas liquids and power prices and demand, the amount and location of planned pipelines, the effective tax rate of the different countries where the work is being conducted, development trends of the oil, gas and power industries, changes in the political and economic environment of the countries in which the Company has operations, as well as other risk factors described from time to time in the Company's documents and reports filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT: Michael W. Collier Vice President Investor Relations Willbros USA, Inc. [phone] Jack Lascar / Partner DRG&E [phone]