ConocoPhillips, NREL and Iowa State University to Establish Research Alliance to...

ConocoPhillips, NREL and Iowa State University to Establish Research Alliance to Advance Biofuels Research

HOUSTON & GOLDEN, Colo. & AMES, Iowa--(Business Wire)--
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and the U.S. Department of Energy's
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), headquartered in Golden,
CO, today announced a strategic research alliance with Iowa State
University (ISU) to identify promising cellulosic biomass conversion
technologies to further diversify the nation's energy sources and help
meet growing energy demand. The collaboration will bring three
independently established programs together to help identify the most
efficient and cost-effective methods for making liquid transportation
fuels from plants.

Transportation fuels today primarily come from petroleum, corn
grain or food crops. The collaboration between ConocoPhillips, NREL
and ISU will develop conversion technologies that will use cellulosic
materials such as corn stalks, stems, leaves, other non-food
agricultural residues, hardy grasses and fast-growing trees as
feedstocks for future transportation fuels. The processes that will be
examined in this collaboration include gasification, pyrolysis and
fermentation.

"ConocoPhillips is committed to the development of technologies
that will convert sustainable non-food feedstocks into transportation
fuels that will be critical to the nation's energy security," said
Stephen Brand, ConocoPhillips senior vice president, Technology. "We
are hopeful that this collaboration will expand the knowledge base and
speed the development of these environmental technologies."

"Research cooperation among government, industry and academia is
needed to efficiently address the many questions about how to find the
best ways to convert biomass to liquid transportation fuels," said Tom
Foust, technology manager for NREL's National Bioenergy Center.

"The thermochemical and biochemical conversion of cellulosic
biomass into liquid fuels has great promise to be a clean and
renewable source of energy that doesn't compete with our food supply,"
said Robert C. Brown, Iowa Farm Bureau director of the Bioeconomy
Institute at Iowa State. "This research collaboration brings together
the complementary strengths of a major energy company, a national
energy laboratory and a land-grant university to advance these
technologies and move them closer to the marketplace."

The collaboration could lead to projects that could provide
publicly available, peer-reviewed papers and models. Each party is
providing its own time and resources and the collaboration is expected
to produce an initial report by January 2009.

About ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company with
interests around the world. For more information, visit
www.conocophillips.com.

About NREL

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national
laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and
development. NREL is operated for DOE by Midwest Research Institute
and Battelle. For more information, visit NREL online at www.nrel.gov.

About Iowa State University

Iowa State University is a land-grant university established in
Ames 150 years ago. The university enrolled 26,160 students in fall
2007 and attracted $272 million in grants, contracts and cooperative
research agreements in fiscal year 2007. For more information, visit
www.iastate.edu.

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PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
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ConocoPhillips
Nancy Turner, 281-293-1430
ConocoPhillips media
nancy.e.turner@conocophillips.com
or
Gary Russell, 212-207-1996
ConocoPhillips investors
gary.d.russell@conocophillips.com
or
NREL
George Douglas, 303-275-4096
george_douglas@nrel.gov
or
Iowa State
Mike Krapfl, 515-204-4917
News Service
mkrapfl@iastate.edu

Copyright Business Wire 2008