Beijing, April 13, 2000 --- CNOOC Limited (the "Company") announces that an investor group led by AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund II, L.P. ("AIGAIF"), GIC Special Investments Pte. Ltd. (the private equity arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation ("GIC")) and American International Assurance ("AIA") have invested approximately US$210 million in the equity shares of the Company. The share placement closed on April 7, 2000. The Company will use the proceeds from the placement to finance its capital expenditure and working capital requirement as well as to repay its existing bank debt.

AIGAIF, with US$1.7 billion in commitment, makes equity and equity-linked investments in infrastructure and infrastructure-related sectors in Asia. American International Group, Inc. is the sponsor and GIC is the principal investor of AIGAIF. The principal adviser to AIGAIF is Emerging Markets Partnership.

GIC is a fund management company entrusted with the mandate to manage Singapore′s foreign reserves.

The Company′s Chairman and CEO Liucheng Wei emphasized the significance of this investment: "With this investment, we gain access to international financial market to fulfill our growth plans for 2000 and beyond. We have set a clear goal for the Company: to establish ourselves as one of the world′s premier exploration and production companies. Offshore natural gas is an increasingly important source of clean and reliable energy for China and will be a key growth area for the Company. We are pleased to have support from sophisticated international investors such as AIGAIF, GIC and AIA."

The Company was formed on October 1, 1999 through the reorganization of parent company China National Offshore Oil Corporation ("CNOOC") and is one of the world′s largest exploration and production companies. The Company dominates the offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production in China. During the 12 months ended 1999, the Company had US$1.8 billion in revenues, US$495 million in net income and averaged daily production in excess of 210,000 barrels of oil equivalent. As of December 31, 1999, the Company had reserves of approximately 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Through CNOOC, the Company has the exclusive right to enter into production sharing contracts ("PSCs") with international oil and gas companies to conduct joint exploration and production activities offshore China and to sell such petroleum in China. Under the PSCs, the Company has the right to acquire up to a 51% participating interest in any oil or gas field discovered in the contract area after the foreign party has independently undertaken exploration and discovered commercial quantities of oil or gas.

CNOOC Ltd. is the largest producer of oil and gas offshore China and is one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world with net proved reserves of approximately 1.8 billion barrels-of-oil equivalent as of December 31, 1999.

For more information about the Company please visit the web site at www.cnoocltd.com.