Douglas White Joins Cobalt International Energy, L.P. as Vice President of Operations; 30 Years Experience in Engineering and Operations Management

Houston, TX – Cobalt International Energy, L.P. , a new oil and gas exploration and production company with $600 million in funding from investors including Carlyle/Riverstone and Goldman Sachs, today announced that Douglas L. White, P.E., has joined the Cobalt team as Vice President of Operations. In this capacity Mr. White will oversee Cobalt’s global drilling and field operations. Throughout his 30-year career, Mr. White has been involved in all phases of petroleum exploration and production operations and construction. He begins in this new position on May 10, 2006.

James Farnsworth, Cobalt’s President and Chief Operating Officer, said, "We are very fortunate to have Doug join our senior management team. Doug has a track record of delivering top-quartile and best–in-class performance by integrating operations and engineering with finance and procurement. His drilling and operations management experience in domestic, international and deepwater operations will be instrumental to the success of Cobalt’s style of high-impact exploration on a global scale."

Mr. White said, "This is a rare opportunity to join a group of industry veterans in a well-funded start-up E&P operation with extremely high global potential. With talent, financing, technology and experience comes a high likelihood of success."

Cobalt International Energy, L.P. is an oil and gas exploration and production company that focuses on the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico and other high-potential global basins worldwide.

Mr. White comes to Cobalt from RigStaff, LLC, where he was President and Co-founder. RigStaff develops and recruits drilling rig labor sources for international drilling contractors. Prior to RigStaff, Mr. White was Vice President of J. M. Huber Corporation, where he managed the Gulf of Mexico assets. He was responsible for financial performance, partner relations, asset management, resource allocation, exploration and production.

From 2000 to 2003, Mr. White was Vice President and Head of Worldwide Deepwater Drilling at ConocoPhillips/Phillips, where he built and developed a deepwater drilling capability that could explore in any basin worldwide. Prior to that he was General Manager of Drilling and General Manager of Global Deepwater Drilling at Texaco International. His duties included operations in Nigeria, Angola, Colombia, China and Thailand, plus Deepwater Nigeria and the GOM, while planning for Angola and Brazil. From 1994 to 1997 he was Vice President of International Operations at Noble Drilling, where he was responsible for the financial performance of all international operations.

From 1974 to 1994, Mr. White was Chief Drilling Engineer for Amoco International as well as Drilling Manager for Amoco in the North Sea, Trinidad and Gulf of Mexico.

Mr. White earned his B.S. in engineering from Oklahoma State University and his M.B.A. from Letourneau University. He is a registered professional engineer.

Cobalt International Energy is a next-generation oil and gas exploration and production company that focuses on the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico and other high-potential global basins. The company was formed in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. For more information on Cobalt, please visit our website at www.cobaltintl.com/