Director/PDMR Shareholding

RNS Number : 9951Y

Cairn Energy PLC

05 December 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5 December 2014

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

Interests of Executive Director in the Company's Shares

1. Purchase of Partnership Shares / Award of Matching Shares under the Company's 2010 Share Incentive Plan (the "SIP")

Cairn announces that, on 5 December 2014, the trustee (the "Trustee") of the Company's HMRC approved all-employee SIP purchased ordinary shares of ²³¹/₁₆₉ pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") in the market at a price of £1.673 per Ordinary Share on behalf of James Smith, Chief Financial Officer, in the "Partnership Share" element of the SIP using a deduction made from his gross salary.

Cairn also announces that, on 5 December 2014, awards of further Ordinary Shares were made to James Smith under the "Matching Share" element of the SIP on the basis of two free Matching Shares for every one Partnership Share purchased. The Ordinary Shares used to satisfy these awards were previously purchased in the market by the Trustee.

Details of the purchase / award are as follows:-

Executive Director

Number of Partnership Shares Purchased

Number of Matching Shares Awarded

Total Number of Shares Acquired

James Smith, Chief Financial Officer

896

1,792

2,688

In accordance with the rules of the SIP, Partnership and Matching Shares are initially held by the Trustee on the participants' behalf and, in the case of Matching Shares, must normally remain so held throughout a period of five years from the date of award.

2. Summary of current holdings of James Smith

Following this announcement, James Smith's beneficial interests in the Ordinary Shares of the Company are as follows:-

Executive Director

Ordinary Shares

% Issued Share Capital

Outstanding Awards Under LTIP

Deferred Share Award

James Smith

2,688

0.0005%

624,256

55,096