Jacobs and OCP Announce Intent to Enter Joint Venture Agreement

PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) and Office Cherifien Des Phosphates (OCP) announced today their intent to enter into an engineering joint venture agreement.

Officials did not disclose the terms of the agreement, which will remain confidential between the parties. However, during the initial phase, the joint venture will provide program, project management, and engineering services for projects based on the US $5 billion investment program of OCP in Morocco.

The agreement, when completed, will represent a powerful combination of engineering and program management resources aligned to support OCP in implementing its strategic expansion plans, in particular infrastructure elements of the Jorf Lasfar phosphate hub development. It will also advance Jacobs growth plans in the fertilizer industry and in the region. It is anticipated that the joint venture will provide services to OCP and third parties in their phosphate engineering business activities worldwide. In addition, the parties intend to expand the capabilities of the joint venture to include infrastructure engineering services to serve the growing West African infrastructure market.

The new company will employ Jacobs engineering systems and tools and will be staffed by OCP and Jacobs, as well as with local hires. The new company is expected to be in operation before the end of 2009 and to employ over 200 people within a 12-month period.

In making the announcement, OCP Group CEO Mr. Mostafa Terrab stated, "We are delighted to announce this collaboration with Jacobs Engineering. It represents an important milestone for OCP in realising its immediate and medium term investment objectives. The joint venture will also harness the strengths and expertise of both companies in providing engineering and related services on phosphate related projects outside Morocco and infrastructure projects in West Africa."

Jacobs Chairman Mr. Noel Watson stated, "We have been working in Morocco and for OCP for more than a decade. We are pleased to cement our relationship with OCP through this joint venture agreement. This is a unique opportunity to support OCP's business goals, leverage our combined skills, and strengthen our development in the fertilizer business. It also enables us both to further penetrate the Moroccan and West African markets."

OCP Group is a worldwide leader in the phosphate rock and derivatives market and is headquartered in Casablanca, Morocco.

Jacobs is one of the world's largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional, and construction services.

Any statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. Although such statements are based on management's current estimates and expectations, and currently available competitive, financial, and economic data, forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. We, therefore, caution the reader that there are a variety of factors that could cause business conditions and results to differ materially from what is contained in our forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors which may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements please refer to our 2008 Form 10-K, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 - Business, 1A - Risk Factors, 3 - Legal Proceedings, and 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We also caution the readers of this release that we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein.

For additional information contact:

Michelle Jones

626.578.6968

SOURCE Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.