Madrid, April 13, 2005. Befesa, Abengoa’s Environmental Services subsidiary, and Telvent, (NASDAQ - TLVT), the global real-time information technologies company, have been awarded the 4.9 million euro contract by the Ministry of the Environment to provide the operation and maintenance services of the automatic hydrological information system (SAIH) for the river Guadalquivir catchment basin.

The SAIH is a system that constantly captures, transmits, presents and processes hydrological information on the state of the catchment area. The availability of this system in the Guadalquivir catchment area enables automatic and real-time supply of information on the different climatic and hydrological variables, or the status of the hydraulic infrastructure that influence the catchment area hydraulic management, control and operation processes. Furthermore, it enables the operation of the reservoirs, canals and water mains to be controlled and optimized to meet the demand for water and in flood situations. This enables forecasting of surface and underground resource availability and monitoring of river levels and flows.

The installations to be operated and maintained under this contract were executed by Abengoa through Befesa and Telvent who, since their completion in 1998, have continued to be responsible for their preservation and operation under successive contracts. They consist of a network of 140 points spread throughout the entire Catchment Area equipped with sensors to capture the physical variables of interest such as flow levels in the reservoirs, rivers and canals, volumes stored in the reservoirs, liquid and solid precipitations, among others.

In addition, the system includes a Catchment Area Process Center in the offices of the Seville Confederation where the data from the control points are received, processed, stored and presented, and four area centers in the Confederation’s offices in Cordoba, Granada, Jaen and Jerez de la Frontera, which receive the data from the control points through the Catchment Area Process Center in Seville.

During the course of this new operation and maintenance stage, the Joint Venture will provide the Confederation with hydro-meteorological forecasting tools and integrate information from the second generation of the Meteosat satellite. This will enhance information quantity and quality and enable optimum management of the catchment area’s scarce hydric resources.

According to Befesa’s chairman, Javier Molina Montes, “this contract, together with that obtained in 2004 to construct the river Duero SAIH, is a clear indication of the Ministry of the Environment’s complete satisfaction with the analogue projects developed for the Guadalquivir Catchment Area itself, and those of the Jucar and Sur, and of its trust in the R&D developed by the company”.

And according to Telvent’s chairman, Manuel Sanchez Ortega, “this contract is further recognition of the successful works carried out by the company on analogue projects in Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru, and other catchment areas on the Iberian peninsula, and also of the company’s more than 30 years’ experience in monitoring and control systems in all its activity sectors, which enable it to apply innovative solutions to hydrographic catchment area monitoring and control systems”.

Befesa, Abengoa’s Environmental Services subsidiary, focuses in activity on providing environmental services for the industrial sector and the construction of environmental infrastructures. It is listed on the Stock Exchange and closed 2004 with stock capital in excess of 393 million euro. (www.befesa.es)

Telvent (NASDAQ – TLVT), the Global Real-Time IT Company, specializes in high added-value solutions in four specific industrial sectors (Energy, Traffic, Transport and Environment), in Europe, America and China. (www.telvent.com)

Abengoa, a listed industrial and technology company, with stock capital in excess of 657 million euro (31.12.2004), provides solutions for Sustainable Development, the Information and Knowledge Society, and the Creation of Infrastructures. It currently operates in four large activity areas: Bioenergy, where it is the world’s No. 2 bioethanol producer; Environmental Services, where it is European leader in segments of the industrial wastes market; Information Technologies, where it is one of the main role players at international level, with operations in Europe, America and Asia; and Industrial Engineering and Construction, where it is leader in Spain and Latin America. (www.abengoa.com)