Lacq, May 23, 2006. – Today, the company AB Bioenergy France (ABF), in which Abengoa Bioenergy, an Abengoa subsidiary and the holding company of its Bioenergy Business Unit, holds a majority stake, celebrated the foundation stone laying ceremony at the bioethanol production facility site in Lacq, in the south of France.

The ceremony was presided over by Miguel de Blas, Chancellor of Spain´s Consulate, Marc Cabane, Prefect of the French Pyrenees-Atlantic Region, Javier Salgado, Chairman of Abengoa Bioenergy, David Habib, president of the Community of Communes of Lacq, Jean-Jaques Laserre president of the Pyrenees-Atlantic General Council, and Pierre Nerguariaran, Director General of Total E&P France, among other authorities.

The Lacq facility will be capable of producing 200,000 tons of bioethanol utilizing corn and wine alcohol as raw materials, and it is being constructed on the basis of the French Government having awarded an overall tax relief on 100,000 tons.

It is the first bioethanol facility in Europe that will utilize corn as the raw material, something that is very common in the United States. The investment to be made is approximately 180 million euro. The first phase (40,000 tons) is scheduled to come into production in 2007, with the plant’s maximum production capacity to be reached in 2008.

Abengoa Bioenergy holds a 56 percent stake in AB Bioenergy France and the remaining shares are held by Aquitaine Industrie Innovations, Euralis, Etablissements Lacadée, Lur Berri, Maïsadour, Vivadour and Agpm. Abengoa Bioenergy will manage and control its subsidiary in France.

Abengoa Bioenergy is Europe’s leading producer of bioethanol for biofuels. It currently operates three bioethanol facilities in Spain - Ecocarburantes Españoles and Bioetanol Galicia, and Biocarburantes de Castilla y Leon - with an overall installed capacity of 550 million liters per year. Abengoa Bioenergy is also the fifth largest producer in the United States with an installed capacity of 365 million liters.

Abengoa is a technological company that applies innovative solutions for sustainable development in the infrastructure, environment and energy sectors. It is a listed company with treasury stock of 1,867.29 million euro (23/05/2006) and is present in more than 70 countries, in which it operates with its five Business Units: Solar, Bioenergy, Environmental Services, Information Technologies, and Industrial Engineering and Construction. (www.abengoa.com).