Remarks for Alejandro Granado

CITGO Petroleum Corporation Chairman, President and CEO Alejandro Granado presented this speech at “wopila” ceremony of thanks before tribal leaders on Feb. 7, 2008 in Rapid City, S.D.

Good afternoon. I bring you greetings from CITGO Petroleum Corporation and our parent company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We are here today to honor you, to show our appreciation, and to affirm our solidarity between the CITGO family, the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the first Americans.

I am really pleased to be here today to talk about the CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program.

As you may know, the CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program began in 2005 in response to the decreased supply of oil due to the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. CITGO was the only oil company to answer the plea to provide the much needed energy assistance for low- income Americans who were struggling to stay warm in winter.

Ultimately, this program was possible as a quick answer to the request from the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and also from United States senators to ease the unbearable burdens families and individuals faced during the winter months.

At CITGO and our parent company, we take social responsibility seriously. We not only consider it our obligation to help, we also consider it a privilege to assist those who are struggling every day to make ends meet. We understand how discouraging it is to have to make the difficult decision between putting food on the table for your family, paying your bills, or heating your home. No family should have to live like that and we believe no one should go cold in the wintertime.

During the first year of the Heating Oil program, 2005 - 2006, CITGO and our parent company, provided 20 million gallons of heating oil at no cost to 103,000 households and 43 social service providers in eight states. I would like to thank our partners at Citizens Energy for all of their work in qualifying participants and managing the program.

As a part of the pilot program that first year the voices of tribal leaders were heard loud and clear as they expressed the need for help with heating oil to keep their families warm. The leaders not only told us that the need for fuel was great, but they also expressed the fact that heating oil prices were skyrocketing beyond their budgets.

We heard the voices of your leaders and we began the Tribal Heating Oil program by providing heating oil to four tribal communities in Northern Maine. The heating oil that first year was provided to those four tribal communities. The tribes were the Penobscot Nation, the Maliseets, the Micmacs, and the Passamaquoddy.

I am so happy to say that we have been expanding the Tribal Heating Oil Program every year. During the second year, we went from serving four tribal communities to providing free oil and other forms of heating assistance to 173 tribal communities in Alaska, in addition to including tribal communities in South Dakota, Michigan, North Dakota, Minnesota, New York and Montana.

This year, our third year, we added six more tribal communities by serving tribal households in the states of Washington, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Arizona, Oregon and Maine, which means that this year more than 57,000 households in 223 tribal communities will receive approximately

1 100 gallons of fuel per household to help ease the burden you face trying to heat your homes during the very harsh winter months.

As many of you know, some households do not use heating oil and we did not want to forget about those families, so the program also provides some communities with wood, propane, electricity or natural gas.

To give you an idea of the overall expansion of the CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program, during the second winter season, we expanded the program by distributing more than 40 million gallons of heating oil in 19 states. Also during the second year, we reached out to embrace more tribal communities by providing heating oil worth $15 million to 173 tribes.

This year, we are delighted that The CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program will distribute approximately 45 million gallons of fuel to more than 224,000 households and 250 social service providers in 23 states, and approximately 223 tribal communities.

The number of people who must suffer through the winter without sufficient resources to keep themselves and their families warm is staggering.

As you can see, the program has grown rapidly. The fact that so many people are suffering makes us sad, but it also makes us very happy to help communities that struggle through some of the most difficult winters.

We consider it a great opportunity to be able to ease the burdens that you and your families face during those cold winter months.

We hope the day will come when the need for help with heating your homes will not be necessary. This is our desire for the future, but until that day comes, you can count on The CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program to be there for you.

CITGO is a company that cares about people and that is why we focus on programs and initiatives that are “people-to-people” programs.

You are a remarkable and strong people who have shown incredible courage and determination in the face of constant adversity.

We salute you and acknowledge your rightful place in American society as the first Americans. Your self-determination, dignity and tremendous knowledge and respect of the world and its natural resources are greatly admired.

So today, we are here to celebrate our partnership and solidarity, and to ease some of the burdens you face every winter trying to keep your families warm.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Native American people and again, for CITGO, PDVSA and the Venezuelan people, it is a privilege to serve you.

Thank you for your hospitality.

End

CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, refined waxes, asphalt and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.