Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and US Congressman Greg Walden to Join Pacific Ethanol in Celebrating the Grand Opening of Oregon's First Bio-ethanol Production Facility on Oct 5th

Start up complete: Pacific Ethanol announces commercial operation for Oregon's first major transportation fuel refinery.

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEIX), the largest West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol, today announced details of the opening ceremony for its plant in Boardman, Oregon. Details of the event are listed below.

     What:    Grand Opening of Pacific Ethanol's 40 Million
              Gallon/Year Production Facility

     When:    Friday, October 5, 2007
              11:00 AM

     Where:   Port of Morrow
              71335 Rail Loop Drive
              Boardman, Oregon

Neil Koehler, CEO and President of Pacific Ethanol, observed, "We've had a very successful start up and now are running at levels above design capacity. We look forward to the opening ceremony with Governor Kulongoski who championed Oregon's progressive Renewable Fuels Standard and Congressman Greg Walden who has been a tireless advocate for rural economic development and natural resource based industries."

Pacific Ethanol's new 40 million gallon per year production facility in Boardman, provides ethanol to meet the current City of Portland's Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and will help supply fuel for the implementation of Oregon's upcoming RFS slated to begin January 1, 2008. In addition to supplying the Northwest fuel markets, the plant produces 350,000 tons of wet distillers grains, an important feed ingredient to Northwest dairy and beef producers.

About Pacific Ethanol, Inc.

Pacific Ethanol is the largest West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol. Pacific Ethanol has ethanol plants in Madera, California, and in Boardman, Oregon, and has three additional plants under construction in Burley, Idaho; in the Imperial Valley near Calipatria, California; and in Stockton, California. Pacific Ethanol also owns a 42% interest in Front Range Energy, LLC, which owns an ethanol plant in Windsor, Colorado. Central to its growth strategy is its destination business model, whereby each respective ethanol plant achieves lower process and transportation costs by servicing local markets for both fuel and feed. In February 2007, Pacific Ethanol obtained a $325 million credit facility to provide financing for its first five ethanol production facilities. Pacific Ethanol's goal is to achieve 220 million gallons per year of ethanol production capacity by the middle of 2008 and to increase total production capacity to 420 million gallons per year by the end of 2010. In addition, Pacific Ethanol is working to identify and develop other renewable fuel technologies, such as cellulose-based ethanol production and bio-diesel.

SOURCE Pacific Ethanol, Inc.

Released September 27, 2007