Today, at a ceremony in Madrid attended by the President of the Catalonian Government, Jordi Pujol, the Chairman of Repsol-YPF, Alfonso Cortina, has outlined the activities conducted by Repsol-YPF in Catalonia, and presented the second edition of the Repsol Guide to Catalonia. Important members of the Catalonian Government, the business community, and other institutions were also present.

In his presentation, Alfonso cortina declared, "This has been a very special year for Repsol, with the acquisition of YPF, so favourably received by the market." And he stressed, "The new international dimension taken on by Repsol-YPF, which has become one of the world�s ten largest oil companies." Focusing on Catalonia, the Chairman of Repsol-YPF remarked on the company�s large investment outlay in the region and the high level of business activity in all its lines of operation. Indeed, in Catalonia, Repsol-YPF invested over 40 billion pesetas during 1998, similar to the level maintained in recent years.

Mr. Cortina underlined the importance of the polypropylene oxide and styrene monomer project, which is nearly fully built, and announced that the plant, "is scheduled to go on-stream at the end of this year, and will practically double installed capacity at the Complex for the production of derivative petrochemicals." This project, developed with the company�s own state-of-the-art technology and involving an investment of 80 billion pesetas, is the largest carried out at Tarragona in the past 20 years, and will strengthen its position as one of the top three petrochemical centres in Europe.

In this respect, Mr. Cortina referred to a study drawn up by a prestigious international consulting company, recommending, "the need to create a Consortium or organisation to channel activities to promote and raise the profile of the Tarragona Petrochemical Complex, thus improving its competitive position with respect to other European petrochemical centres." This possible Consortium should comprise chemical companies already installed at the Complex, the Government of Catalonia, Town Halls and other local institutions and business associations.

On this same occasion, the second edition of Repsol�s Guide to Catalonia was also presented. This publication was prepared with the invaluable co-operation of the Catalonian

Department of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, the Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia (RACC) and the Catalonian and Spanish Academies of Gastronomy. It includes detailed 1:200,000 scale maps provided by the Institut Cartogr�fic de Catalunya, street plans of the main Catalonian cities, and full information for the tourist in Catalonia. Alfonso Cortina expressed his satisfaction that the Guide had become a source of reference for anyone visiting the region.