Madrid, March 3th, 2005- AB Bioenergy France will submit to the French Government a proposal to obtain the agreement for a 180,000 Tm/y corn based bioethanol plant to be located in Pardies, Southwest France. This project will be the first producing bioethanol from corn in Europe. The facility will be in operation in 2007, and will consume annually more than 400,000 Tm of corn, which will be originated and provided from local cooperatives of Aquitaine and Midi Pyrenees.

On March 2nd the company AB Bioenergy France was incorporated by the shareholders Abengoa Bioenergy, Dyneff, Aquitaine Industrie Innovations, Euralis, Etablissements Lacadée, Lur Berri, Maïsadour, Vivadour and Agpm. Abengoa Bioenergy (51%) will manage and control its subsidiary in France.

Abengoa Bioenergy is the European leader in the production of bioethanol, Dyneff is the first independent distributor of oil products in France, Aquitaine Industries Innovations is a capital risk company focused on renewable energy sources and innovation technologies, Agpm is the national association of French corn growers and Euralis, Ets Lacadée, Maïsadour, Vivadour and Lur Berri are the principal corn cooperatives in the region.

The President and CEO of Abengoa Bioenergy, Javier Salgado, mentioned that the project gets the stronger group of expertise, knowledge and experience to comply with French Administration requirements and to provide the required level of confidence and credibility: "In this strategic approach for Abengoa Bioenergy to the French Market we have the best partners, the mix of expertise and the combination of specialties within the shareholders means a guarantee of success". The project will represent an investment of more than 100 Meur, and will create more than 100 direct employment and 600 indirect employment.

The shareholders at AB Bioenergy France provides the joint company with a extraordinary capability to perform the project successfully, as it integrates the technology and operating expertise of Abengoa Bioenergy, the capability of Dyneff in the distribution of gasoline products, the guaranteed origination and supply of feedstock by the cooperatives and the knowledge and support from Aquitaine Industry Innovations.

Abengoa Bioenergy is the European leader in the production of bioethanol for biofuels, operating at present two bioethanol plants in Spain, Ecocarburantes Españoles and Bioetanol Galicia, with a total installed capacity of 150 and 170 million liters per year, respectively. Moreover, it is developing a third plant in Salamanca, Biocarburantes de Castilla y León, with a capacity of 200 million liters per year, of which five million will be obtained from the conversion of cereal biomass by means of a new technology being developed by Abengoa Bioenergy R&D. Abengoa Bioenergy is the second producer on a world-wide scale and the first in Europe. Abengoa Bioenergy is also the 5th producer in the US, with a installed capacity of 365 million liters. The production in the US is based on corn which provides the company with an expertise and technology to process this cereal into bioethanol.

Abengoa, mother company of Abengoa Bioenergy, is an industrial and technological company listed in Madrid stock exchange, with a capitalization over 657 million Euro (31/12/2004), which gives solutions for Sustainable Development, Information and Knowledge Society, and the Creation of Infrastructures. Operating four business areas: Bioenergy, being the second producer worldwide; Environmental Services, as European leader in some industrial waste segments; Information Technologies, as one of main actors at international scale with operations in Europe, America and Asia; and Engineering and Industrial Construction, being the leader in Spain and South America.