Automatic Welding among Global Industries' Integrated Services to Extend Destin Pipeline.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 1999--

Global Industries (Nasdaq:GLBL) has completed two major extensions to the Destin Pipeline system using automatic welding on the second extension of the system. This is the first time the company has performed automatic welding in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The second of the two contiguous extensions was installed independently of the first to a maximum water depth of 700 feet -- the deepest portion of the Destin Pipeline project -- for Destin Pipeline Company, L.L.C. The extensions were completed during the fourth quarter of 1998 and the first quarter of 1999 to support two natural gas developments in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Destin Pipeline, L.L.C. is jointly owned by affiliates of Amoco Corporation, Sonat Inc. and Tejas Energy LLC, an affiliate of Shell Oil Company.

Destin Pipeline Installation

In the first pipeline extension, Global used conventional welding techniques from the pipelay/derrick barge Iroquois to install 13 miles of 24-inch diameter pipe in water depths to more than 300 feet between a platform hub at Main Pass Block 260 and Main Pass Block 284. The second extension of the Destin Pipeline system involved installation of 32 miles of 24-inch pipe to water depths of 700 feet using Global's deepwater pipelay and heavy-lift vessel Hercules. The pipeline extended from the phase I extension at Main Pass 284 to Chevron's Gemini hub at Viosca Knoll 900.

During the second extension, Global performed automatic welding of the 24-inch diameter pipe onboard the Hercules. Automatic welding substitutes the use of conventional stick welding to connect 40-foot long joints of pipe with an automatic gas metal arc welding (GMAW) system. The process uses preset computer programming to control the welding parameters. Welding units travel around the pipe joints, uniformly welding sections of pipe. Automatic welding has the ability to deliver a more consistent, better quality weld. It can also offer time-savings over traditional welding techniques. Global has reinforced its commitment to provide this enhanced capability by upgrading and modularizing its GMAW systems, making the technology available for use on all of its pipelay barges.

Related Offshore Construction

Under a special diving alliance agreement with Shell, Global Divers & Contractors -- a wholly owned Global Industries subsidiary -- provided pipeline tie-in work related to the Destin project using saturation diving to water depths of more than 300 feet from its MSV Pioneer and bury barge Tonkawa. Using spool pieces previously installed by the Tonkawa, Global Divers performed the tie-in of the 24-inch diameter Destin pipeline to an existing 24-inch riser at the Main Pass 260 platform.

Global Divers also used saturation diving to more than 300 feet from the Pioneer to tie the 24-inch pipeline to an existing 12-inch lateral leading to the Main Pass 279 "B" platform, operated by CNG Producing Company. Pipeline-tie and pre-crossing work associated with the Destin Pipeline extension project was completed by Global in December.

Global Industries also performed derrick services related to the Destin Pipeline project by installing the Main Pass 279 "B" platform under contract for CNG. The Hercules installed the four-pile, 290-foot platform with a 985-ton jacket and 900-ton deck in November.

Global Industries provides pipeline construction, platform installation and removal, and diving services to the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East/India, and Mexico's Bay of Campeche. The company's shares are traded on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol "GLBL."

For more information, contact Business Development, Global Industries, Ltd., 5151 San Felipe, Suite 900, Houston, Texas 77056. Tel. [phone] or www.globalind.com.