Nabors Enters New Employment Agreement with CEO Anthony Petrello

Nabors Industries

today announced that it has entered a new employment agreement with Chief Executive Officer Anthony Petrello to more closely align his compensation with Nabors' shareholders' interests and industry peers.  The new five-year agreement, which replaces Mr. Petrello's 2009 agreement well before its scheduled expiration, resulted from the Board's comprehensive review of the Company's compensation practices following last year's annual shareholders meeting, together with input from shareholders.  Effective January 1, 2013, the new agreement: Eliminates death and disability benefits valued at $50 million; Abolishes uncapped cash bonuses and the bonus metric based on excess cash flow over an equity hurdle; Subjects more than 80% of Mr. Petrello's target annual compensation and more than 90% of his maximum annual compensation to financial and operational objectives; Caps termination payments at 2.99 times base salary and bonus; and Continues to require Mr. Petrello to maintain equity ownership of Nabors shares at five-times his annual base salary.   John Yearwood, Nabors' Lead Director, commented, "Over the past several years, Nabors has made significant strides in overhauling its compensation system to ensure that its leadership