CITGO PETROLEUM CORPORATION RECEIVES MDA DIRECTORS’ AWARD

TUCSON, Ariz., March 31, 2008 – The Muscular Dystrophy Association awarded its highest philanthropic achievement honor, the MDA Directors’ Award, to CITGO Petroleum Corporation.

At the spring meeting of MDA's Board of Directors in Houston, MDA Chairman of the Board Dr. R. Rodney Howell presented the award to CITGO General Manager of Light Oils Marketing Alan Flagg, a longtime champion of the Association, and Sponsorship Program Logistics Manager Billie Gruschkus.

MDA Chairman of the Board Dr. R. Rodney Howell (right), presents the MDA Director's Award to CITGO General Manager of Light Oils Marketing Alan Flagg (center) and Sponsorship Program Logistics Manager Billie Gruschkus (left) at the Association's Board of Director's meeting in Houston.

The award honors people and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to MDA’s battle against muscular dystrophy in the areas of corporate and organizational sponsorship, media and entertainment industry support, and personal fundraising.

MDA's largest corporate sponsor, CITGO has fueled the Association's mission to defeat muscular dystrophy since 1986. In that time, CITGO’s family of customers, employees, retailers and marketers has raised more than $90 million for MDA’s programs of research, services and information.

"This year, CITGO is celebrating 23 years as an MDA national sponsor," Howell said. "We're deeply grateful for their continuing and unswerving dedication to making muscle-wasting disease a thing of the past."

MDA is a national voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services and far-reaching professional and public health education. The Association’s programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.