COPL Regulatory News (COPL)

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited Announces ExpectedAdmission to Trading in London of Shares

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Calgary, Canada, 17 January 2017 - Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited ("COPL" or the "Company") (TSX-V: XOP) (LSE: COPL), has made an application for the admission (the "New Shares Admission") to the standard listing segment of the Official List, and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities, of 5,477,857 common shares of no par value in the capital of the Company (the "New Shares"). New Shares Admission is expected to become effective at 8:00 am (London time) on 20 January 2017.

The New Shares are common shares underlying Warrants (defined below) forming part of the units issued by the Company in connection with the previously announced first tranche private placement of 22,857,143 units (the "Units") in the Company to investors in the United Kingdom on a non-brokered basis which closed on April 28, 2016 (the "Offering"). Each Unit consisted of one common share ("Common Share") in the capital of the Company and one Common Share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). The Common Shares and Warrants comprising the Units separated immediately upon closing.

Under the Offering, each Warrant entitled the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of £0.0475 per Common Share at any time prior to 16:30 hrs (Calgary time) on or before the date that is 24 months from the closing of the Offering.

In accordance with Section 86(1)(b) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended), and Prospectus Rule 1.2.3(R)(1), the Company is not required to publish a prospectus in relation to the New Shares Admission.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of the Units in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale may be unlawful. The Common Shares and Warrants have not been and will not be registered under the 1933 Act or any U.S. state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the 1933 Act or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws.

About the Company:

The Company is an international oil and gas exploration and development company focused in offshore West Africa. The Company holds a 17% working interest in Block LB-13, offshore Liberia, with ExxonMobil the operator holding an 83% working interest. The Company is also actively pursuing opportunities in Nigeria in partnership with Shoreline Energy as part of its strategy to generate stable cash flow from secure offshore assets. The Company and Shoreline, through their jointly held affiliated company, Shoreline Canadian Overseas Petroleum Development Corporation ("ShoreCan") has acquired 80% of the share capital of Essar Exploration and Production Limited (Nigeria) which holds an attractive oil appraisal and development project in shallow to mid water offshore Nigeria on it's 100% holding in OPL 226. Drilling of the first appraisal well is planned to commence in late 2017. ShoreCan is currently waiting for final approval from the Government of Nigeria for the acquisition.

ShoreCan is building a portfolio of exploration and development assets in sub-Saharan Africa. To date, ShoreCan has taken a position in Nigeria. It continues to evaluate a variety of additional assets in Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea.

The Common Shares are listed under the symbol "XOP" on the TSXV and under the symbol "COPL" on the London Stock Exchange.

For further information, please contact:

This news release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "initial, "scheduled", "can", "will", "prior to", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "forecast", "future", "continue", "may", "expect", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including, but not limited to, the ability to raise the necessary funding for operations, delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements since the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties most of which are beyond the control of Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd. For example, the uncertainty of reserve estimates, the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, cost overruns, health and safety issues, political and environmental risks, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, changes in legislation affecting the oil and gas industry could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and Canadian Overseas Petroleum undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.