(Hong Kong, May 25, 2006) - CNOOC Limited (NYSE: CEO, SEHK: 883, “the Company") announced today that Typhoon Chanchu did not cause any casualties or oil spills thanks to the Company’s continuous focus on health safety and environment (“HSE”).

Typhoon Chanchu, the first one this year, suddenly turned in right angle after arriving in Eastern South China Sea. The center of Typhoon Chanchu struck directly Liuhua oil field and packing winds exceeded the designed resisting capacity on typhoon within a century. The Company had been monitoring Typhoon Chanchu and completed the evacuation before its coming in a timely manner. The Company mobilized 144 flights to evacuate over 3,840 offshore personnel from 25 platforms and floating processing storage and offloading units (“FPSO”) of 17 oil fields in the Eastern South China Sea, including the staff of our contractors. The Company shut down wells and production facilities ahead of the evacuation.

Thanks to sufficient preparations, Typhoon Chanchu did not cause any casualties and oil spills.

After the landing of Typhoon Chanchu, the Company thoroughly examined all the oil fields in the area. All the production facilities except that in Liuhua oil field are not damaged and have restarted production. The examination discovered that part of the production facilities in Liuhua oil field is damaged. The Company has mobilized various service companies, including subsea services and examination contractors to conduct the subsea examination so as to determine damage. According to the examination, seven anchors and three risers are proved to be split and broken.

The Company is arranging to tug the FPSO to safe areas. Meanwhile, We are also organizing the designers, manufacturers, installation contractors etc. to prepare a plan for restarting the production in the field. The production capacity of Liuhua oil field is approximately 22,000 barrels of oil per day.

Mr. Zhou Shouwei, President of the Company commented: ”During the strike of Typhoon Chanchu, we organized very large-scale evacuation and production restart in an efficient manner, leading to no casualties and no spills. This indicated the CNOOC Ltd’s approach of treating HSE as top priority. We are still evaluating the situation and also working closely with the designers, manufacturers, installation contractors as well as other related parties to restart production of Liuhua oil field as soon as possible. “