ClearBridge Energy MLP Opportunity Fund Inc. Raises $540 Million, Starts Trading on the NYSE

ClearBridge Energy MLP Opportunity Fund Inc. (the "Fund”) announced today that pricing has been completed for its initial public offering. The Fund offering raised approximately $540 million in its common stock offering; assuming full exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option, which may or may not occur, the Fund will have raised approximately $621 million. Its shares began trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "EMO.”

The Fund’s investment objective is to provide long-term investors a high level of total return with an emphasis on cash distributions. There can be no assurance the Fund will achieve its investment objective or earn a return on its assets, and you could lose some or all of your investment.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its managed assets in master limited partnerships in the energy sector. The Fund considers master limited partnerships ("MLPs”) to be in the energy sector if they derive at least 50% of their revenues from the businesses of exploring, developing, producing, gathering, transporting, processing, storing, refining, distributing, mining or marketing natural gas, natural gas liquids (including propane), crude oil, refined petroleum products or coal. When a company is organized as an MLP, it benefits from a structure that combines the tax benefits associated with limited partnerships with the liquidity of publicly traded securities.

"Following last year’s successful offering of ClearBridge Energy MLP Fund Inc. (NYSE: CEM), we developed a second MLP vehicle focused on emerging growth opportunities in U.S. energy infrastructure. New drilling and completion technologies are transforming the U.S. oil and gas industry and may result in increasing supplies of lower-cost crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs). EMO will focus on MLPs with operations in crude oil, natural gas liquids and refined products infrastructure. We believe that the combination of structurally higher global oil prices and increased supply of domestic oil and natural gas liquids will position the Fund for long-term growth,” stated Chris Eades, Portfolio Manager and Co-Director of Research for ClearBridge Advisors.

"We are seeing increased interest in MLPs by investors as they allow for attractive tax-deferred distributions and capital appreciation potential, simplified tax reporting within the closed-end structure, and diversification in an overall investment portfolio. With EMO, we are furthering our goal to bring innovative products to a wider audience,” stated Tom Hirschmann, Head of U.S. Sales for Legg Mason.

ClearBridge Energy MLP Opportunity Fund Inc. is a newly organized, non-diversified, closed-end management investment company which is advised by Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC and subadvised by ClearBridge Advisors, LLC, both of which are wholly owned subsidiaries of Legg Mason, Inc. ("Legg Mason”).

The underwriting syndicate was led by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., and BofA Merrill Lynch.

For more information, please contact the Fund at 1-888-777-0102 or visit the Fund’s web site at www.leggmason.com/cef.

About Legg Mason:

Legg Mason is a global asset management firm with approximately $671 billion in assets under management as of May 31, 2011. The company provides active asset management in many major investment centers throughout the world. Legg Mason is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, and its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: LM).

About ClearBridge:

ClearBridge Advisors is Legg Mason's largest equity manager with approximately $58.9 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2011. Led by the insight of proprietary, fundamental research and a team of portfolio managers with an average of 24 years of investment industry experience, their investment process provides clients with a diverse menu of equity-focused strategies in a number of investment vehicles and personalized, value-added client service.

Investors should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. This press release and the prospectus, which contains this and other information about the Fund, should be read carefully before investing. A copy of the final prospectus relating to these securities may be obtained by contacting your financial advisor.

Data and commentary provided in this press release are for informational purposes only. Legg Mason and its affiliates do not engage in selling shares of the Fund. The Fund’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Similar to stocks, the Fund’s share price will fluctuate with market conditions and, at the time of sale, may be worth more or less than the original investment. Shares of closed-end funds often trade at a discount to their net asset value. All investments are subject to risk, including the risk of loss. MLP distributions are not guaranteed and there is no assurance that all distributions will be tax-deferred. Diversification does not assure a profit or prevent against a loss in a declining market.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the U.S. federal securities laws. Generally, the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "will," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ significantly from the Fund’s present expectations or projections indicated in any forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, changes in economic and political conditions; regulatory and legal changes; leverage risk; valuation risk; interest rate risk; tax risk; the volume of sales and purchase of shares; the continuation of investment advisory, administration and other service arrangements; and other risks discussed in the Fund’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Fund undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein. There is no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be attained.