March 18, 2016
Dear Stockholder:
You are cordially invited to the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Cobalt International
Energy, Inc. to be held on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 8:00 a.m., Central Time, at the Azalea
Ballroom in the Westin Houston Memorial City Hotel, 945 Gessner Road, Houston,
Texas 77024.
This booklet includes the notice of the meeting and the proxy statement, which contains
information about the Board of Directors and its committees and personal information about the
nominees for the Board of Directors. Other matters on which action is expected to be taken
during the meeting are also described.
We use the internet as our primary means of furnishing proxy materials to our stockholders,
including this proxy statement, a proxy card and our 2015 annual report. Consequently, most
stockholders will not receive paper copies of our proxy materials. We will instead send these
stockholders a notice with instructions for accessing the proxy materials and voting via the
internet. The notice also provides information on how stockholders may obtain paper copies of
our proxy materials if they so choose. Internet transmission and voting are designed to be
efficient, minimize cost and conserve natural resources.
Your vote is important and we encourage you to vote even if you are unable to attend the Annual
Meeting. You may vote by internet or by telephone using the instructions provided in the proxy
materials, or, if you requested and received a paper copy of the proxy card, by signing and
returning it at your earliest convenience. You may also attend and vote at the Annual Meeting.
It is important that your shares are represented at the Annual Meeting, as a quorum of the
stockholders must be present, either in person or by proxy, in order for the Annual Meeting to
take place.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you for your continued support.
Yours truly,
Joseph H. Bryant
Chairman of the Board of Directors and
Chief Executive Officer
