The New York Stock Exchange LLC (NYSE) announced on Friday that the staff of NYSE Regulation will commence proceedings to delist the American depositary shares of CNOOC Limited (ticker symbol CEO) from the NYSE. Trading in the American depositary shares will be suspended at 4:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on March 9, 2021.

NYSE Regulation reached its decision that the Issuer is no longer suitable for listing pursuant to Listed Company Manual Section 802.01D in light of Executive Order 13959, which was signed on November 12, 2020 and updated guidance provided by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) on January 27, 2021 in General License 1A and FAQ 879.

The Issuer has a right to a review of this determination by a Committee of the Board of Directors of the Exchange. The NYSE will apply to the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the Issuer’s securities upon completion of all applicable procedures, including any appeal of the NYSE Regulation staff’s decision.

Let’s note that Executive Order 13959 (“EO 13959”) prohibits, beginning at 9:30 a.m. eastern standard time on January 11, 2021, any transaction in publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designated to provide investment exposure to, companies identified as a Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC).

As FX News Group has reported, on January 5, 2021, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) provided additional, specific guidance to the NYSE stating that U.S. persons cannot engage in certain transactions (as specified in EO 13959) in the ADRs of China Telecom Corporation Limited (CHA), China Mobile Limited (CHL), and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (CHU) after 9:30 a.m. eastern standard time on January 11, 2021.

Accordingly, NYSE Regulation moved forward with delisting the three issuers.