McMoRan Exploration Co. (the Company) held its 2012 annual meeting of stockholders on June 14, 2012, in Wilmington, Delaware. At the annual meeting, the Company's stockholders (1) elected each of the eleven persons listed below to serve as a director of the Company for a term that will continue until the next annual meeting of stockholders, (2) approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the named executive officers, and (3) ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the 2012 fiscal year.

Of the 161,564,454 shares of the Company's common stock outstanding as of the record date, 150,114,478 shares were represented at the annual meeting. The independent inspector of elections reported the vote of stockholders as follows:

Proposal 1: Election of eleven directors.

Name                     Votes For    Votes Withheld   Broker Non-Votes

Richard C. Adkerson     115,673,728          685,492         33,755,258
A. Peyton Bush, III     115,507,363          851,857         33,755,258
William P. Carmichael   115,776,496          582,724         33,755,258
Robert A. Day           115,735,468          623,752         33,755,258
James C. Flores         115,732,720          626,500         33,755,258
Gerald J. Ford          115,066,771        1,292,449         33,755,258
H. Devon Graham, Jr.    115,427,319          931,901         33,755,258
Suzanne T. Mestayer     115,491,719          867,501         33,755,258
James R. Moffett        115,396,900          962,320         33,755,258
B. M. Rankin, Jr.       115,423,791          935,429         33,755,258
John F. Wombwell        115,722,773          636,447         33,755,258

Proposal 2: Approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the named executive officers.

               Votes                      Broker
Votes For     Against     Abstentions   Non-Votes

86,746,983   29,349,569     262,668     33,755,258

Proposal 3: Ratification of appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm.

149,357,683 703,831 52,964