CSW INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES 120-MEGAWATT COGENERATION PROJECT IN MEXICO THAT IS PRAISED BY PRESIDENT ERNESTO ZEDILLO.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 1996--CSW International, Inc.'s Mexican subsidiary announced today a joint venture with Alpek, S.A. de C.V., Alfa's petrochemicals group, to build, own and operate a 120-megawatt, gas-fired cogeneration project at Alpek's petrochemical complex in Altamira, Tamaulipas. CSW International (CSWI) and Alpek will have equal stakes in the project, called Enertek, which will cost approximately $75 million.

At a meeting in Monterrey on July 4, President Ernesto Zedillo called the Enertek project "an historic event" and praised the joint venture for initiating "the first major project of cogeneration in Mexico."

Secretary of Energy Jesus Reyes Heroles also reiterated the historical significance of the project and said that aside from the technical aspects, the project is transcendental because of the complexity of the contracts, and it is the first time that PEMEX has contracted for the long-term purchase of natural gas and that the Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) has contracted with a privately held company for transmission services.

At the meeting, which was attended by approximately 400 executives from medium to large corporations in the state of Nuevo Leon, the members of the joint venture had a ceremonial signing of the contract. In addition to President Zedillo and Secretary Heroles, other distinguished guests included: Benjamin Clariond, governor of Nuevo Leon; Rogelio Gasca, director general of CFE; Adrian Lajous, director general of Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX); Dionisio Garza, president and CEO of Alfa Group; Jose de Jesus Valdez, president of Alpek; Tom Shockley, executive vice president of Central and South West Corporation; Terry Dennis, president and CEO of CSW International; and Jesus Hinojosa, mayor of Monterrey.

Enertek recently received a cogeneration permit from the Comision Reguladora de Energia, CRE (Energy Regulatory Commission) for the project, which will be the first major cogeneration project built in Mexico under the new legal framework regulating power projects.

Enertek has reached contractual agreements with CFE and PEMEX for the interconnection, backup and transmission of energy and for the supply of natural gas, respectively.

The Mexican firm, ICA-Fluor Daniel, had been selected for the project's engineering, procurement and construction. It is expected that the plant will start operating during the first quarter of 1998. In addition to the 120 megawatts of electric energy, the facility will have a thermal energy capacity of approximately 1 million pounds of steam per hour.

The plant will be built at the Petrocel Petrochemical Complex, in Altamira, Tamaulipas and will supply energy to the firms located at that complex. Some of those firms are: Indelpro, an Alfa and Montell association that produces polypropylene; Petrocel and Tereftalatos Mexicanos, Alpek subsidiaries dedicated to the production of raw materials for polyester; and Pecten Poliester, a Shell subsidiary, which will produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Furthermore, through a transmission service contract with CFE, the cogeneration plant will provide electric energy to firms located in Monterrey and in other areas of Mexico. Some of these firms are: Fibras Quimicas, a joint venture between Alpek and Akzo Nobel, which produces synthetic fibers; Nylon de Mexico, a joint venture between Alpek and Dupont, also in the same field; and Univex, a producer of raw materials for nylon.

This project will provide important support to the competitiveness of the firms that will receive the energy. These firms are significant participants in international markets and jointly export more than US$1 billion annually.

CSWI and its U.S. domestic affiliate, CSW Energy, Inc. (CSWE) develop, acquire, construct, own and operate power production and distribution facilities in the United States and worldwide.

CSWI and CSWE are subsidiaries of Central and South West Corporation (NYSE: CSR), a public utility holding company based in Dallas. The corporation owns Central Power and Light Company, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Southwestern Electric Power Company and West Texas Utilities Company. These four subsidiaries provide electric utility service to 1.7 million customers in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. The corporation also owns SEEBOARD plc, a regional electric company in the United Kingdom. SEEBOARD serves 2 million customers in Southeast England. In addition, Central and South West owns EnerShop Inc., an energy services/management company, CSW Communications, and several other non-utility subsidiaries.

Alpek is one of Mexico's principal petrochemical groups with sales of US$1.4 billion annually and exports in the amount of US$850 million. It produces synthetic fibers, petrochemicals and plastics.

CONTACT: Media Contact: Bill Lohrman, manager of marketing,

planning and public relations, CSW International,

214/777-3730;

or Financial Community Contact: Sharon R. Peavy,

director of investor relations, Central and

South West Corporation, 214/777-1277