SEAL BEACH, CA --- Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has been awarded an 18-month contract extension to continue supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel to Sun Metro, the public transit bus agency serving the city of El Paso, Texas, and neighboring New Mexico communities.

Clean Energy has been under contract to Sun Metro since December 2003, with fleet fuel consumption now topping 4.6 million LNG gallons annually.

The LNG fuel is used directly to fuel certain buses as well as converted to compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel, which is used to power the balance of the Sun Metro natural gas fleet. That fleet includes 144 natural gas buses and six diesel buses. The agency plans to expand the fleet to 227 natural gas buses within 10 years.

James Harger, Clean Energy's senior vice president, said: "We are pleased to continue our supply relationship with Sun Metro, where we have provided reliable, cost-efficient LNG fueling services for five years, ensuring the agency and its riders that their buses roll out daily to meet community transportation needs."

Kevin Bunce, Sun Metro assistant director, added: "El Paso has significant air shed issues caused by adjacent cities and chooses to fuel with natural gas to mitigate those issues and improve air quality."

With 600 employees and an annual budget of over $60 million, Sun Metro offers fixed route and paratransit bus service within the county of El Paso, Texas, and throughout the city of Sunland Park, N.M.

The agency -- recipient of the Texas Transit Association's 2008 Outstanding Metropolitan System Award -- operates service on more than 50 fixed routes in a region that spans 250 square miles. Annually, Sun Metro transit buses log more than 12 million passenger trips and travel 60 million passenger miles.