American International Petroleum Extends Due Dates for $6.1 Million of Conventional Bridge Loans.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2000

American International Petroleum Corporation (OTC BB: AIPN) announced today that it has extended to April 28, 2001, its outstanding conventional bridge loans with GCA Strategic Investment Fund Limited ("GCA").

This conventional bridge financing agreement is for an aggregate of $6.1 million, reflecting the Company's paying down $1.25 million to GCA from the prior aggregate $7.35 bridge financings, which were due November 28, 2000.

The conventional bridge loans have provided the Company with interim working capital for the continued rapid build-up of its domestic Lake Charles refining and asphalt operations and various international oil and gas initiatives.

The Company has completed an aggregate of approximately $9 million in conventional non-convertible financings with GCA since January 1999. GCA is a professional management firm with a family of funds specializing in "direct investment" financing for growth driven small-cap and micro-cap companies, both public and private, with market capitalization between $10 million and $500 million. The agent for these transactions was LKB Financial LLP, Cumming, Georgia.

Company Chairman Dr. George Faris said, "The extension of the bridge financings was important to the Company as we have begun re-entry and testing operations at the Begish #1 oil well on our License 953 in Kazakhstan, and are rapidly ramping-up our domestic refining and marketing operations."

"We anticipate having test results from Begesh #1 available in approximately 30 days, baring any unforeseen circumstances. The re-entry and testing are intended to establish if the Jurassic formations in the 12,000 acre Begesh structure are able to produce oil in commercial quantity. Success of Begesh #1 should allow the Company to book proven oil reserves by December 31, 2000 and generate oil revenues by early-2001," Dr. Faris added.

The agreements with The Sargeant Group of Companies ("Sargeant") enables the Company to refine crude oil supplied by Sargeant and to market the refined products, including jet fuel, diesel fuel and naphtha, throughout the United States.

Additionally, under a separate asphalt joint venture agreement with Sargeant Bulktainers ("SB"), a unit of Sargeant, the Company said its joint venture produced approximately $2,786,000 in asphalt revenues during the three months ended September 30, 2000, and that currently operations are cash flow positive with a backlog of approximately $8 million. Under the agreement, SB is supplying the Company's Lake Charles refinery with all its requirements of conventional bulk asphalt and raw materials. The refinery is utilizing its facilities and expertise to blend the asphalt into high-margin polymerized asphalt and market it throughout the Gulf Coast and other areas of the United States.

American International Petroleum Kazakhstan, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, owns two licenses in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Production License 1551, the Shagyryl-Shomyshty gas field, in which it has a 100% interest, has technically proved reserves of 604 billion cubic feet of gas as previously reported, and exploration License 953, a 4.7 million acre exploration block, in which the Company has a 70% working interest.

American International Petroleum Corporation is a diversified petroleum company which, through various wholly-owned subsidiaries, is involved in oil and gas exploration and development in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and in processing, purchase, marketing and transportation of a wide array of refined products, from naphtha to asphalt, in the United States.

Statements herein may be identified as forward-looking for purposes of safe harbor provisions under Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Commission Act of 1934. Such statements relating to the Company's business, including: the Company's ability to pay or further extend its bridge loan financings; timely and successful completion of drilling and refining activities; refinery and drilling equipment and operations meeting performance requirements; and all other future business, are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements, and other risks and factors, identified in the Company's SEC filings.