Director/PDMR Shareholding

Cairn Energy PLC
26 April 2006


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



                                                                   26 April 2006



                  CAIRN ENERGY PLC ('Cairn' or 'the Company')


Section 329 Companies Act 1985 Notification


Cairn announces that it today received notification for the purposes of Section
329 of the Companies Act 1985 that the Trustee of the Cairn Energy PLC
Employees' Share Trust ('the Trust') has purchased 500,000 of the Company's
Ordinary Shares of 10 pence each as detailed below. The shares were acquired by
Regent Capital Trust Corporation Limited as Trustee of the Trust. The Trust is a
discretionary trust for the benefit of employees of the Company and its
subsidiaries, which operates in conjunction with the Cairn Energy PLC Long Term
Incentive Plan 2002 ('the LTIP').


1.                   All of the Executive Directors and Persons Discharging
Managerial Responsibility ('PDMRs') of the Company are potential beneficiaries
of the Trust, namely:-


Sir Bill Gammell, Chief Executive
Mike Watts, Exploration Director
Kevin Hart, Finance Director
Malcolm Thoms, Chief Operating Officer

Philip Tracy, Engineering & Operations Director

Jann Brown, Group Financial Controller

Richard Heaton, Head of Exploration - India

Simon Thomson, Group Commercial Manager


2.                   The transaction notified on 26 April 2006 in relation to
the Trust is:-

Date of           Number of Ordinary Shares       Purchase Price of Ordinary
Transaction       Purchased                       Shares
25 April 2006       500,000                       £24.0824


3.                   Following this transaction, the total shareholding of the
Trust is 2,365,866 shares.


4.                   The actual number of Ordinary Shares / Notional Shares
(excluding those which have previously vested) in which each of the Executive
Directors/PDMRs has an interest (subject to certain performance conditions being
satisfied) under the LTIP is as follows:-

Name of        Number of Ordinary Shares Under  Number of Notional Shares Under
Director                           Tier 1                           Tier 2
Sir Bill
Gammell                               146,500                          147,800
Mike Watts                             96,300                           89,000
Kevin Hart                             90,100                           78,000
Malcolm Thoms                          90,100                           78,000
Philip Tracy                           82,200                           91,500
Jann Brown                             54,900                           63,300
Richard Heaton                         54,900                           68,600
Simon Thomson                          55,600                           64,900




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