Press Releases

Capital Contribution for Solar Cell Silicon Wafer Manufacturer

April 7, 2009

PRESS RELEASE

In response to the Space Energy Corporation which was seeking a third party allocation of shares, Nippon Oil Corporation (President: Shinji Nishio) has provided a capital contribution to the Space Energy Corporation (President: Toshinao Nimura), which manufactures and sells silicon wafers designed for solar cells.

We provided the initial capital injection to the Space Energy Corporation, the top manufacturer of single crystal silicon wafers designed for use in solar cells, in March of last year in order to establish a supply chain for our solar energy generation projects. Due to the strong likelihood that the global demand for solar energy generation will increase, we have determined that additional financial contributions are now required to help strengthen the business foundation of the Space Energy Corporation. This will enable us to support the manufacturer in supplying high-quality and high-performance silicon wafers at reasonable prices. We will also strengthen our cooperation with the manufacturer by dispatching them non-executive directors and marketing staff with the goal of furthering business development.

Nippon Oil Corporation is currently undertaking a wide range of renewable solar energy generation projects, from the sale of solar energy generation systems to the implementation of research and development programs for next-generation solar cells.
As a comprehensive energy provider, we will continue to be proactive in solar energy generation systems by proposing and supplying products targeting household, public and industrial markets.

Details

1. Overview of the Space Energy Corporation

(1) Company Name:	Space Energy Corporation
(2) President:	Toshinao Nimura
(3) Founded:	April, 1995
(4) Address:	Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan (with factories located in Saitama, Nagano and Iwate)
(5) Capital:	2,319,580,000 yen (data prior to the capital contribution)
(6) Number of permanent employees:	290 (as of March, 2009)
(7) Business summary:	Manufacturing and sales of silicon wafers used as the main components of crystalline silicon solar cells (Production volume of single crystal silicon wafers during Fiscal 2008: Approx. 44 million)

2. Overview of capital contribution

(1) Amount: 3 billion yen (cumulative amount: 5.32 billion yen)

(2) Shares held: 200,000 (after capital contribution: 254,000, total number of shares outstanding: 548,000)

(3) Share holding ratio after capital contribution: 46.4% (prior to the capital contribution: 15.52%)

(4) Type of capital contribution: Third party allocation of shares

(5) Date of capital contribution: March 31, 2009