China North East Petroleum Announces Nomination of Mr. John Nicholls to Board of Directors

HARBIN, China and NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- China North East Petroleum Holdings Limited (the "Company") (NYSE Amex: NEP), a leading independent oil producing and oilfield services company in Northern China, today announced that Mr. John Nicholls has been nominated to the Board of Directors' slate of Board Members for election at the Company's upcoming annual meeting. If Mr. Nicholls is elected to the Board, he will replace Mr. Edward Rule, who will retire as Chairman of the Board and a Director effective upon conclusion of the 2011 Annual Meeting.

Mr. Nicholls currently serves as Managing Director at Harmony Capital Partners (Australia) Pty Ltd. and Non-Executive Director at Metal Storm Ltd., an ASX-listed Defense Technology Company and Harvey Industries Pty Ltd., a Southwest Western Australia (WA) based beef processing facility. Mr. Nicholls has over forty years of executive level experience and worked as Chief Executive Officer of eight Asia-based companies covering the industrial, consumer, pharmaceutical and property development sectors.  His roles include serving as CEO of Comalco Asia Limited (1967 - 1979 & 1976 - 1978), PT Indo Extrusions Limited (1972 - 1975), International Containers Limited (1976 - 1988), Neptune Containers Limited (1980 - 1994), Chiap Hua Comalco Limited (1981 - 1986), Eastern Time Limited (1986 - 1994), Peregrine Capital (Australia) Ltd. (1996 - 1997), and Nylex Ltd. (2009), an ASX listed Australian based manufacturing conglomerate with plants around Australia and China. Mr. Nicholls gained his Bachelor in Commerce and MBA from University of New South Wales.

Mr. Jingfu Li, CEO of China North East Petroleum commented, "We are pleased to announce John's nomination. We believe his extensive executive level experience working with sizeable publicly-traded companies will be a valuable asset to NEP as we seek to expand our position in China's oil production industry.  Additionally, we are very grateful to Edward for his wise counsel and service to the Company as a Director and Chairman of the Board over the past three years and wish him every success in the future."  

Mr. Rule said, "It has been a pleasure to work with the NEP management team. My preference would be to continue on the board but family circumstances have made this impossible.  I believe there are many good days ahead for NEP as it continues to expand its oil production efforts in China. I appreciate the opportunity to serve on the Board and wish the company nothing but the best with respect to its future growth initiatives."

ABOUT CHINA NORTH EAST PETROLEUM

China North East Petroleum Holdings Limited is an independent oil company that engages in the production of crude oil in Northern China. The Company is a pioneer in China's private oil exploration and production industry, and the first Chinese non-state-owned oil company trading on the NYSE Amex.

The Company has a guaranteed arrangement with the PetroChina to sell its produced crude oil for use in the China marketplace. The Company currently operates five oilfields in Northern China. The Company also recently obtained exploration and drilling rights in the Durimu oilfield through its acquisition of Sunite Right Banner Shengyuan Oil and Gas Technology Development Co., Ltd. ("Shengyuan"). For more information about the Company, please visit http://www.cnepetroleum.com.

Statements in this press release, including but not limited to those relating to the Company's or management's intentions, beliefs, expectations, hopes, projections, assessment of risks, estimations, plans or predictions for the future, including the impact of the restatement, timing of filings with the SEC and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations.  Statements regarding our ability to realize future production volumes, realize success in our drilling and development activity and forecasts of legal claims, prices, future revenues and income and cash flows and other statements that are not historical facts contain predictions, estimates and other forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove correct.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include delays and uncertainties that may be encountered in connection with seismic testing and test drilling in the Durimu oilfield, the anticipated benefits from the acquisition cannot be fully realized, the possibility that costs or difficulties related to the development of the Durimu oilfield will be greater than expected, and other risks described in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and its other filings with the SEC.  Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those indicated.  Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.  Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement and the Company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement.

For more information, please contact:

China North East Petroleum US office
Tel:  +1-909-610-2212

China North East Petroleum Investor Relations Department
Tel:   +1-646-308-1707

SOURCE China North East Petroleum Holdings Ltd.

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