Board Changes and Amendment t

RNS Number : 7591L

Cairn Energy PLC

16 January 2009

 



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

16 January 2009

Cairn Energy PLC ('Cairn')

Board Changes

And Amendment to Reporting Calendar

Appointment of Dr James Buckee, Non-Executive Director

Cairn Energy PLC has appointed Dr James Buckee as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 15 January 2009.

Dr Buckee was appointed President of BP Canada Inc, in September 1991 and in May 1993 was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Talisman Energy Inc.  Dr Buckee was Talisman's first President and CEO when it was spun out of BP Canada in 1992. After he was appointed CEO, he steered the company from its Calgary home base to become one of Canada's largest independent oil and gas companies with international operations in the North Sea, South East Asia and Africa during which time operated production rose from 50,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) to 500,000 bopd. He retired from Talisman in October 2007.

Dr Buckee received his BSc Honours in Physics from the University of Western Australia. In 1970 he received his PhD in Astrophysics at Oxford University.  From 1971 to 1977 he held various petroleum engineering positions with Shell International and Burma Oil in Lowestoft, Aberdeen, Stavanger and Perth, Australia. From 1977 to 1991 he held a variety of senior posts with British Petroleum in a number of locations including London, Norway and Dukhan, Qatar.

Dr Buckee has been appointed as a member of the Company's Audit Committee and Remuneration Committee. He does not currently hold any Cairn shares.

No further information is required to be disclosed pursuant to LR 9.6.13R.

Norman Murray, Chairman of Cairn, said:  

'We are delighted that Dr Buckee has agreed to join the Cairn Board. His significant experience across the globe within the oil and gas industry will be of great benefit to the Board. We believe he will bring extensive knowledge about the delivery of substantial engineering projects and maximizing exploration activities in frontier acreage. '

Dr James Buckee said:

'I'm very pleased to accept this opportunity to join the Cairn Board. Cairn has a world class set of assets and acreage highlighted by the delivery of the Rajasthan project the unfolding exploration story in Greenland and an exciting future.'        

Ed Story

Cairn also announces that, with effect from 15 January 2009, Ed Story, Non-Executive Director, has resigned as a Non-Executive Director of the Company.

Mr Story was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Cairn in 1997 and served on the Audit Committee, Remuneration Committee and Nomination Committee. The Board of Directors wish to thank Ed for his significant contribution to the growth of the Company since 1997.

Amendment to Reporting Calendar

Cairn will now release its operational update on Thursday 29 January 2009 in order to align its reporting with that of its operating subsidiary, Cairn India. 

The Indian Companies Bill will make it mandatory from 2010 for every Indian listed company to use 31 March as its Accounting Reference Date.  Cairn India plans to adopt this earlier, subject to shareholder approval, and make the change from 2009 onwards. As a result Cairn India will issue its 4th Quarter results (for the quarter ending 31 December 2008) to the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India at the end of January.

Enquiries:-

Cairn Energy PLC:            

General Enquiries
Bill Gammell, Chief Executive	Tel: [phone]
Jann Brown, Finance Director David Nisbet, Head of  Group Corporate Affairs

Brunswick Group Limited:

Patrick Handley

Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors: 

• Cairn Energy PLC ('Cairn') is an Edinburgh-based oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Following the IPO of Cairn India in January 2007, there are two separate arms to the business:

• Cairn India limited ('Cairn India') is now an autonomous business listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India and has interests in a total of 14 acreage blocks in India and Sri Lanka. Cairn currently retains a 65% interest in Cairn India.

• Capricorn Oil Limited ('Capricorn'), a subsidiary of Cairn is focused on exploration. Capricorn now has assets in Bangladesh, Nepal, Northern India, Greenland, Tunisia, Albania, and pending licence awards in Spain and Sicily.

• 'Cairn' where referred to in this release means Cairn Energy PLC and/or its subsidiaries (including Cairn India and Capricorn), as appropriate. 

• 'Cairn India' where referred to in the release means Cairn India Limited and/or its subsidiaries, as appropriate. 

• 'Capricorn' where referred to in this release means Capricorn Oil Limited and/or its subsidiaries as appropriate.

• The Group holds material exploration and production positions in west India, east India and Bangladesh along with new exploration rights in India and Nepal. 

• Cairn has focused its activities on the geographic region of South Asia, which has already resulted in a significant number of oil and gas discoveries.  In particular, Cairn made a major oil discovery (Mangala) in Rajasthan in the north west of India at the beginning of 2004. Cairn has now made more than 20 discoveries in Rajasthan block RJ-ON-90/1. 

• Cairn India is headquartered in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi, with operational offices in Chennai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. 

• Cairn Energy PLC (including Capricorn) will continue to be run from Edinburgh with operational offices in Dhaka, Chittagong and Kathmandu.

For further information on Cairn see www.cairn-energy.plc.uk  

 

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