Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. Issues an Annual Update to Shareholders

LONG BEACH, Calif., April 2, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

To All GCEH Shareholders:

Since I began as President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. ("Global") (OTCBB:GCEH), I have been sending an annual letter to my fellow shareholders in an effort to communicate how we are on delivering on our plan, to identify our achievements and set-backs, and provide some insight into our plans for the upcoming year.

On March 21^st, we filed our Form 10-K annual report and I am proud to announce that we have reported net earnings for the year ending December 31, 2011. This is the second time in the last three years that we have reported net earnings.

As you know, we are in a very young industry. Global is focused on the supply of the base feedstock because it represents more than 80% of the biofuels cost structure commanding the majority of the profit, which provides the most long-term opportunity for our shareholders. 

With the core of our business in a relatively new area of agriculture, we have both incredible opportunities and significant challenges. I am confident that we can succeed with the skilled technical and management teams that we have put in place. While the challenges we face are not unique to farming, they are unique to the crop we are growing. We feel Jatropha has unparalleled promise for long-term economic, environmental and social sustainability. We are pioneering a new path by developing a crop which has previously not been subject to large-scale commercialization—with  a commitment to develop new lands dedicated to non-food-based energy bio-feedstocks which do not compete with existing farm land. While we have some of the same risks that have faced the agricultural industry for hundreds of years, we have new challenges in developing an entirely new product and supply chain. The good news is that we have the most modern advances in science and technology available to support us. We have spent the last four years building our platform for growth, gaining experience in planting and caring for a new tree crop, and developing a baseline to support continued research. We are developing and growing our business to be capable of cultivating tens of millions of trees.

I am more confident than ever that our business model is aligned with the enormous demand for feedstocks in the biofuels industry, which will provide a highly-profitable business platform for our company.

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

• Revenues increased by more than 50%;
   
• We acquired an additional 5,557 acres in Mexico, thereby increasing our farm acreage by more than 54%;
   
• We committed to developing a farm in the Dominican Republic, which we will use as a research farm to test and research the growth of multiple varieties of Jatropha plants in the Dominican Republic;
   
• We increased our full time employees by more than 30% to 488;
   
• We increased our asset base by more than $5.1 million, an increase of over 46%, while liabilities increased by less than 34%. We plan to continue to invest in assets and expand our farming operations;
   
• We reduced our general and administrative expenses by more than 21%, compared to 2010;
   
• We increased the amount of management and advisory services that we provide to partners and third parties;
   
• We raised an additional $7.9 million in project equity and financing;
   
• We improved our balance sheet by combining the removal of legacy liabilities—resulting in a profit for fiscal year 2011 of $271,000; and
   
• As part of an international bio-jet initiative that we have been involved with for more than two years, we supplied additional Jatropha oil to Aeropuertos y Serviceios Auxiliares, the Mexican National Airport authority, to be converted by Honeywell's UOP division, into bio-jet fuel for commercial jet use.    

I continue to be proud of the great social work our team is doing by supporting local villages near our farms in Mexico. We have a deep corporate commitment to work with the local communities to improve the social conditions where our employees and their families live.

Over the past year I have been asked to be an expert speaker at a number of bio-fuels conferences—including the recent Air Transportation Action Group (ATAG) annual meeting in Geneva Switzerland. The common theme I heard was an unwavering commitment to use biofuels and a general frustration with the unavailability of feedstocks to satisfy currently existing demand. These sentiments continue to validate my confidence in our business roadmap. We are clearly on the right side of this business supply chain; and if we stay committed to being "the low cost producer" in the biofuels feedstock market, we will drive significant revenue and profit.

I am thrilled with the progress we have made and the advances we continue to see in the development of our supply platform. The exceptional effort our scientific and operational teams are making will allow us to continue with leading edge research and development work. The ability to apply new technological advances will help drive our business efficiencies and hasten our speed to new development... further adding to shareholder value.

We are all keenly aware of our focus on driving long term shareholder value. I thank you for your continued support and confidence. Please follow us on Twitter [gceholdings@twitter] and Facebook [gceh@facebook.com].

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 at mmyers@gceholdings.com

Released April 2, 2012