UPDATE 1-Australia's WorleyParsons buys U.S. deepwater firm

(Adds CEO comment, updates shares)

SYDNEY, April 1 (Reuters) - Australian engineering services firm WorleyParsons Ltd (WOR.AX) agreed to pay $108.5 million for U.S.-based deepwater drilling company INTEC Engineering as demand grows with oil and gas producers exploring further afield.

Houston-based INTEC develops projects at depths of up to 2,400 meters in the Black Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, offshore West Africa and the South China Sea.

"The acquisition of INTEC completes the missing link in our hydrocarbons business which we have been seeking to fill for several years and strategically positions WorleyParsons to service our clients operating in deepwater locations," WorleyParsons Chief Executive John Grill said.

The world's remaining oil reserves are increasingly being found in areas that are difficult to access. Global capital expenditure in offshore oil and gas would grow to around $250 billion a year by 2010, WorleyParsons said.

WorleyParsons said the price of the acquisition, which will be debt funded, represented a multiple of 9.5 times INTEC's 2007 proforma earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).

WorleyParsons recently raised $144.5 million in the U.S. private placement note market, a market source told Reuters last week, the firm's second such issue in less than a year.

Separately, WorleyParsons said it would receive around A$190 million ($174 million) in revenue from a contract with Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL.AX) for services to its North Rankin 2 project, part of the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture off the coast of northwest Australia.

Shares in WorleyParsons were up 0.3 percent at A$33.56 in early trade, outperforming a 0.2 percent decline in the broader market .AXJO. The stock traded above A$54 in December. ($1=A$1.09) (Reporting by Miranda Maxwell)