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Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. Issues an Annual Update to Shareholders and Provides Jatropha Oil for Demonstration Flight in Mexico With "Green Jet Fuel" on an Airbus A320

LONG BEACH, Calif., April 14, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. issues a letter to shareholders.
/ Source: GlobeNewswire

LONG BEACH, Calif., April 14, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. issues a letter to shareholders.

To All GCEH Shareholders:

As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:GCEH), I like to send an annual letter to my fellow Shareholders to provide an update about the past year and our plans for the coming year.

Through our wholly-owned Mexican corporation, Globales Energia Renovables, we provided feedstock for the April 1, 2011 Interjet demonstration flight on an Airbus A320 fueled by "Green Jet Fuel," produced by Honeywell. We are very proud to be part of this initiative and we were fortunate to be on the flight and experience first-hand a significant event in aviation history.

I am sure you are all aware of the increase in the price of fossil fuels over the past year. This is a result of two major events occurring simultaneously—the growth of demand in the commodity market, as the world economy recovers from its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression; and uncertainty in oil supply caused by unrest in the middle-east and northern Africa. Although these events have been anticipated for some time, price increases are affecting many industries. In response, large users are aggressively looking for alternatives for their current supply chain of fossil fuels.

Global Clean Energy Holdings is in the business of growing plant oil, which provides an alternative to the world-wide over-dependency on fossil fuels. The motivation for this endeavor is to achieve both clear and sustainable environmental benefits while simultaneously mitigating volatility and instability in the world-wide oil markets. Global oil demand is expected to continue to grow and its corresponding prices are expected to mirror that trend. By providing alternative oil into the market, at our expected production cost of $42 per barrel, we will generate recurring profits, while making significant environmental improvements globally.

Our primary focus remains on delivering on our business plan which will in-turn provide shareholder value. The current demand for plant oils, biofuels, and replacement fuels provides virtually unlimited opportunities for our products. We continue to build out the entire supply-chain model. This is not an easy or fast process, and it is not a short-term investment. Our model is the foundation for a long-term, highly-profitable business solution and we are well-poised to lead this effort.

This past year we have accomplished many things. The most significant accomplishments include:

  1. We entered into an off-take agreement with a U.S.-based renewable diesel processor to supply millions of gallons of crude Jatropha oil over the next 20 years. We are currently seeking project financing for this dedicated farm.
  2. We increased our farm size by more than 65%.
  3. We increased our full-time employees by 75% to more than 375.
  4. We increased our asset base by more than $3.5 million. We continue to invest in assets and expand our farming operations.
  5. We improved our liability-to-asset ratio by 17%.
  6. We formed a non-profit research center, the Center for Sustainable Energy Farming ( www.CfSEF.org ) to continue our genetic, agronomy and horticulture research efforts.
  7. We purchased and prepared an additional 3,450 acres and continue planting through the season. We are acquiring additional land this year, and will prepare and plant that land before the end of 2011.
  8. We continued to increase the sales of Jatropha oil, biomass and seeds from our farms.
  9. We continued to generate development and management fees by providing management and advisory services to partners and third parties. 
  10. We continued to provide Jatropha oil and biomass for conversion into fossil fuel alternatives and for the development and testing of high value products, and new markets.
  11. We continued to invest in our research efforts internally and in partnership with the CfSEF, who has a Master Research Agreement in place with Penn State University. We continue to invest in Intellectual Property development.
  12. We raised an additional $3.7 million in project equity and financing. 
  13. We applied for approximately $20 million in low-cost financing through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, (OPIC) a U.S. agency designed to assist U.S. companies with international development in targeted countries.
  14. And as stated above, we recently supplied Jatropha feedstock from our farms in Yucatan, Mexico to ASA, the Mexican National Airport authority. The oil was converted by Honeywell's (UOP) division into bio-jet fuel for a demonstration flight which took place in Mexico on April 1st, 2011, on an Airbus A320 operated by Interjet of Mexico. We were passengers on that flight along with a number of Mexican officials, Interjet executives and representatives from Honeywell and Airbus.   This is part of a larger national bio-jet initiative within Mexico--which has declared a goal of 15% of all jet fuel consumption to come from biofuels by 2020. We plan to be an integral part of that supply chain.

In addition to our focus on core competencies, we are also very proud of the community work we are doing with local villages near our farms. We generally don't publicize these efforts but as supporters of our company, I feel you should know about the community work that the Company and our employees are doing to improve social conditions in local communities where many of our employees live. We provide health care services for our workers and their families including inoculations, vitamins and heath training. When we began, the local villages near our farm had a part-time doctor and clinic. Now there is a full-time doctor and a fully-staffed and -supplied clinic with a new ambulance. When we recently found out that many local school children were coming to school hungry, we quickly implemented a breakfast program. We now feed more than 125 students breakfast daily before class. We donate construction supplies for the repair of school facilities and our employees donate their time to perform necessary repairs. We have plans to donate computers to the schools and hope to expand the wireless service at our farm so that they can have access to the internet. We are looking into a "sister schools program" with schools in the U.S. As we grow, we hope to expand these efforts, to touch more communities and improve more lives.

Since we refocused the Company in 2007 to be a renewable energy company, we have had one primary goal -- preparing the company to be a leader in the bio-fuels space. We have worked diligently to develop the infrastructure needed to execute a scalable growth model as the financial markets ease and allow us access to growth capital. We are successfully testing this model. In a short time, we have reduced the capital costs needed to develop energy farms by more than 30%, and we continue to improve operating efficiencies by reducing operating costs. We are committed to being "the low cost producer" in the biofuels feedstock market.

In our last shareholder meeting, you overwhelmingly approved a State of Incorporation change from Utah to Delaware, and granted our Board the authority to institute a reverse stock split. Both of these changes are part of a bigger plan to expand the company and prepare it to carry a higher stock price. We have completed the State of Incorporation change to Delaware but decided to wait on the reverse stock split until our other business efforts warranted a reduction in the number of outstanding shares. The recovery of the financial markets is still affecting small companies and as a result the stock continues to trade in a lower trading range. We hope this will correct itself with time as we successfully deliver on our business plan. The weather in Mexico late in 2010 had a negative effect on most agricultural business in the region, and we were not immune to these weather-related challenges. However, we expect to have very good sales and revenue in 2011.

This continues to be a very exciting business for all of us. We have a very unique opportunity that rarely comes along; we are positively affecting more than 1,000 lives, improving the environment and making the world a safer place, while building a sustainable long term business solution. As I said before, it doesn't get any better than this.

I continue to be very proud of our entire team. I am inspired daily by their hard work, commitment to excellence, and their kind hearts. Thank you for being part of this effort, supporting our goals, and being patient as we work towards [literally] changing the world for the better. We never forget the responsibility that you, the shareholders, have entrusted to us.

Sincerely,

Richard Palmer
President and Chief Executive Officer
Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc.

This shareholder letter contains forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, those discussed in our reports on Form 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT: Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. Merilee Myers mmyers@gceholdings.com