February 26, 2004
Guyana Invokes United Nations Law of the Sea Process

Toronto, Ontario - CGX Energy Inc. (OYL.U - TSX-V) wishes to announce that on February 25, 2026 the Government of Guyana formally commenced binding dispute settlement procedures under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in relation to the maritime dispute between Guyana and Suriname. This was announced yesterday, February 25, 2004, by His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo in a nation-wide address to the Guyanese people. This action was taken in order to demarcate the maritime boundary between the two South American neighbours.

The full text of the Guyanese President's address has been posted on the CGX website (www.cgxenergy.com). Also posted on the website are this morning's articles from Stabroek News and the Guyana Chronicle, two local Guyana newspapers.

In June 2000, a jack-up drilling rig leased by CGX from an American drilling contractor and operating under licence from the Government of Guyana was forced off its Eagle drilling location by gunboats from the Surinamese navy in contravention to the UNCLOS Treaty to which both countries were full signatories. Following this incident there was a resuscitation of the mechanism for dealing with boundary matters between the two states, namely the Joint Meeting of the Border Commissions of Guyana and Suriname. The last meeting was convened in Georgetown in March 2003.

These rounds of meetings did not yield many results. With no hope of a negotiated solution, Guyana announced that it had commenced arbitration proceedings against Suriname under Annex VII of the UNCLOS Treaty. Under that provision, the arbitration is compulsory and binding.

Guyana is represented by a team of international lawyers: Sir Shridath Ramphal of London, former Commonwealth Secretary General; Mr. Paul S. Reichler, a Partner in Foley Hoag LLP, of Washington, DC; and Dr. Payam Akhavan, a Senior Fellow at Yale Law School.

Further information on Guyana's legal team follows:

Sir Shridath Ramphal is the former Chief Negotiator of the Caribbean region in international economic negotiations with Europe and the Americas. He is Co-Chairman of the Commission on Global Governance, and Chancellor of the University of Warwick and the University of the West Indies. Sir Shridath was Secretary-General of the Commonwealth (1975-1990). In his legal career, he was successively Solicitor-General of British Guiana, Assistant Attorney-General of the West Indies and Attorney-General of Guyana. He was later Guyana's Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Justice (1972-1975). The international positions he has held include those of Vice-President of the United Nations General Assembly, 1968 and 1973, Chairman, UN Committee on Development Planning (1984-1987), Special Adviser to the UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992), and President, World Conservation Union (1990-1993). He was Chairman of the West Indian Commission (1990-1992) and a member of several other international commissions.

Mr. Paul S. Reichler is a leading practitioner of public international law, specialising in representation of sovereign states before international courts and arbitral tribunals. His special achievements include being Counsel and Advocate for the Republic of Nicaragua in its successful suit before the International Court of Justice, at The Hague, Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), 1984-1991; being the Negotiator, Sapoa Cease-Fire Agreement, between the Government of Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan Resistance, 1988; a recipient, Cacique's Crown of Honour, from the Government of Guyana, for "Outstanding Contribution to the Restoration of Democracy in Guyana," 1993; the Counsel and Advocate for the Republic of Uganda before the International Court of Justice, at The Hague, Case Concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo v. Uganda), 1999-present; and Mediator (together with Sir Shridath Ramphal), in the Territorial Differendum between Guatemala and Belize, appointed by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, 2000-2002.

Dr. Payam Akhavan is a Senior Fellow at Yale Law School, a member of the New York bar, and counsel before international courts and tribunals. He was previously with the international dispute resolution practice of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York where he focused on disputes involving sovereigns. He spent six years at the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, where he had served as the first Legal Advisor from 1994 to 2000. He has been appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Toronto, and Senior Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School and Leiden University in the Netherlands. Dr. Akhavan has extensive experience in international law, having advised and served as counsel to the United Nations and sovereigns on a wide range of matters involving Cambodia, East Timor, Eritrea, Guatemala, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, and Uganda. He has recently served as counsel before the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission at The Hague, and also served as counsel with respect to anticipated proceedings before the European Court in Strasbourg in relation to ex-YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

CGX holds an interest in four Production Sharing Licences from the Government of Guyana, covering 9 million acres (6.9 million net) offshore and 800,000 acres (680,000 net) onshore. About 15% of CGX's offshore holdings are affected by the Suriname border claim. Other companies holding Licences in the area of overlapping border claims are Maxus Guyana Ltd., a subsidiary of Repsol YPF and Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd.

CGX Energy Inc. (TSX-V- OYL.U) is a Canadian-based oil and gas exploration company focused on the exploration for oil in the Guyana basin and is actively looking at other international opportunities. CGX is managed by a team of experienced oil and gas and finance professionals from Canada, U.S.A. and the UK. CGX is financed internationally and has shareholders worldwide.

Additional information on CGX Energy may also be examined and/or obtained through the internet by accessing CGX Energy's website at www.cgxenergy.com or by accessing CGX Energy's public disclosure documents through the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) website at www.sedar.com.

For further information please contact Kerry Sully, President & CEO at (604) 733-9647 or Denis Clement, LL.M. at (416) 364-5569.

THIS PRESS RELEASE WAS PREPARED BY CGX ENERGY INC., WHICH ACCEPTS THE RESPONSIBILITY AS TO ITS ACCURACY. THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.