Acorn International LLC

1740 Massachusetts Avenue

Boxborough, MA 01719

+1978-263-4334(o)

+1-978-501-2962(c)

Info@acornintl.net

www.acornintl.net

NEWS RELEASE

September 4, 2007

Acorn International is pleased to announce that three of our professionals have been selected to

serve as Qualified ESHIA Facilitators by Chevron Corporation. Chevron’s Environmental, Social and

Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) process follows an established procedure designed to integrate a

wide range of potential project impacts into project planning and design. The process depends on

qualified facilitators to lead project teams in applying the ESHIA procedures at various stages of

project development.

Dean Slocum was selected to be one of the first external facilitators and has since helped facilitate

the ESHIA process for large Chevron capital development programs in Nigeria and Kazakhstan. He

also helped Chevron train future facilitators at a course in Thailand. Heather Boyd and John Black,

P.G., have been selected to participate in Qualified ESHIA Facilitator training in Houston in

September 2007. Further, Acorn International partners in Brasil and Colombia are scheduled to

undertake training later in 2007.

With Dean, Heather, John and our South American partners all trained to facilitate the ESHIA process

and well-prepared to carry out full ESHIA impact assessments for Chevron capital development

programs worldwide, Acorn International has become one of few consultancies with a wide range of

depth needed to support ESHIA worldwide.

Dean Slocum and Heather Boyd are also Qualified Environmental/Social facilitators for Chevron’s

Integrated Hazard Identification (IHAZID) Process. Dean and Heather have facilitated Chevron

teams in applying the Environmental, Health and Social (EH/S) portion of the IHAZID Risk

Assessments for development programs in the US Gulf of Mexico, Colorado, California, Venezuela,

Nigeria, Angola and Thailand.

For more information on our capabilities, including staff resumes, please visit

www.acornintl.net

.

Acorn International, LLC

is a professional consulting services company dedicated to delivering

world-class, affordable EHSS assurance and straight-forward results for overseas development

projects. The company operates not through a traditional consulting services model but by

providing structured tools and guidance to qualified host-country teams, maintaining a link

with international clients and building capacity in the host-country team. Acorn delivers:

1. Established teams of local country experts partnered with and directed by an expert in assuring

world-class EHSS assessment and management performance standards are met

2. Advice to international industry needing to build world-class EHSS programs

3. Recruitment and oversight/management of partners and service providers (EHSS and other)

overseas

Working with Acorn will allow international industries to better manage the increasingly delicate

balance between meeting corporate requirements for reliable, simplified service while satisfying host-

country demands for maximum local content.

Acorn International

C O N S U L T I N G - P A R T N E R I N G

Acorn International

C O N S U L T I N G - P A R T N E R I N G