Horizon Offshore, Inc. said that due to its inability to collect any
of its outstanding claims against Pemex or obtain financing on
acceptable terms with an institutional lender prior to January 31, 2004
it has reached agreement with the lenders on two of its existing
revolving credit facilities to amend its loan agreements. These
amendments remove a condition that would have reduced its borrowing
capacity under these agreements from an aggregate of $50 million to $20
million on January 31, 2004. As of January 28, 2004, $50 million was
outstanding under these revolving credit facilities. Each of these
facilities mature on April 3, 2004. Horizon is currently pursuing
additional debt and equity sources of financing to replace these
facilities prior to their maturity and to reach long-term agreements
with the lenders on all of its credit facilities. If Horizon does not
obtain long term financing on acceptable terms and does not collect on
its Pemex claims prior to April 3, 2004, it will need to obtain another
extension from the lenders on the revolving credit facilities mentioned
above.
Horizon also reported that it and its consultants continue to negotiate
with and use their best efforts to collect its outstanding claims
against Pemex, but the ultimate amount and timing of payment of its
claims is uncertain at this time. The possibility exists that Pemex
could pay a portion of the claims and require Horizon to submit the
remainder of its claims to arbitration, or, if agreement cannot be
reached with Pemex, Horizon may have to submit all of its claims to
arbitration. Because of the uncertainty associated with the timing of
any payments, the Company is currently evaluating the amount to be
reserved for accounting purposes for the Pemex receivable and reflected
in its fourth quarter 2003 results.