Misión Revolución Energética

CITGO, Embassy of Venezuela and Citizens Energy Launch Energy Efficient
Lighting Program in Houston

HOUSTON – CITGO Petroleum Corporation Chairman, President and CEO
Alejandro Granado, Citizens Energy Chairman Joseph P. Kennedy II and
Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Bernardo Alvarez joined
today at the home of Houston resident Delores Smith to promote a national
pilot program providing low-income households with energy efficient and
environmentally friendly compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

In Houston, the program will distribute an estimated 140,000 CFLs
throughout the summer and early fall in 7,000 households -- approximately
one third of the national total.

As with the low-income heating oil program inaugurated in 2005, this
initiative is a partnership between Houston-based CITGO, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), and the Boston-based
nonprofit Citizen's Energy Corporation. Together, CITGO and Citizen's
Energy will provide eligible Texas households in Houston and Corpus
Christi as well as nine other cities nationwide with almost half a million
CFLs. The initiative will also include education materials and workshops
to help inform individuals about ways they can use energy more efficiently
and in turn save on their electric bills.

Working with local community groups, the program will distribute light
bulbs and energy conservation educational materials to approximately
23,000 households in the pilot cities. Qualified participants will
participate in energy workshops sponsored by partner organizations. In
total, the pilot program has the potential to save program participants
nearly $15 million and reduce their energy use by 165 million
kilowatt-hours.

"I am proud that CITGO invests over $100 million annually on social
programs to improve the lives of those in need," Granado said. "The
CITGO-Venezuela Energy Efficient Lighting Program will save money for
recipients who struggle to make ends meet while also helping these
communities learn more about energy efficiency and environmental
conservation."

Simple energy-savings actions like those encouraged through this pilot
program can make a big difference. According to the federal government,
if every American home replaced just one light bulb with a CFL, the U.S.
would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year,
more than $600 million annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases
equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

"The most cost effective and clean energy is the energy we don't use,"
Kennedy said. "We are proud to partner with CITGO Petroleum to help our
most vulnerable households learn ways to use energy more efficiently, and
in doing so, save energy, money and the environment."

The inspiration for the program came from a similar Venezuelan Government
initiative called Misión Revolución Energética.

"This program is a counterpart to our efforts in Venezuela, where more
than 60 million conventional light bulbs have been replaced by energy
efficient ones through Misión Revolución Energética," Alvarez, said. "It
is also proof of CITGO's commitment to social issues, which goes far
beyond traditional corporate social responsibility, and of Venezuela's
commitment to a new progressive model of development to confront the
problems of poverty and environmental damage."



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