Interests of Directors

Cairn Energy PLC
08 May 2008



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


                                                                      8 May 2008



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

 Interests of Directors/Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility ('PDMRs')
                            in the Company's Shares

   Awards under the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan 2006 ('the 2006 LTIP')


Cairn announces that on 7 May 2008 the following awards were made under the 2006
LTIP to Directors/a PDMR of the Company:-

                               Number of Cairn India       Number of Capricorn
                               Units                              Units

Director/PDMR
Sir Bill Gammell,                              223,600                 514,285
Chief Executive
Dr Mike Watts,                                  81,520                 562,500
Exploration Director
Malcolm Thoms,                                 139,750                 321,428
Chief Operating Officer
Phil Tracy,                                    139,750                 321,428
Engineering & Operations
Director
Jann Brown,                                    116,460                 267,857
Finance Director
Simon Thomson,                                  58,230                 401,785
Legal & Commercial Director
Richard Heaton,                                      0                 535,714
Head of Exploration


Under the 2006 LTIP, Cairn India Units and Capricorn Units are notional units of
value relating to the Company's holding in Cairn India and Capricorn Energy
respectively.

All Cairn India Units were awarded at £3.22 per Unit (the price of a Cairn India
share as at close of business on 6 May 2008) and all Capricorn Energy Units at
£1.40 per Unit (calculated in accordance with the provisions of the 2006 LTIP).

Each of the above awards will ordinarily vest on or around the third anniversary
of grant, but only to the extent that specified performance conditions are
satisfied over a period of three years from the date of award. The value of a
participant's vested Units will then be settled in the form of Ordinary Shares
of the Company.

Following this announcement, the Directors'/PDMR's beneficial interests in the
Ordinary Shares of the Company are as follows:-


Director Number of  % Issued  Number  Outstanding Awards    Outstanding Awards
 /PDMR    Ordinary   Share   of Share   under 2002 LTIP       Under 2006 LTIP
           Shares   Capital  Options
                                      Tier One  Tier Two    Cairn     Capricorn
                                                            India       Units
                                                            Units
Sir Bill
Gammell   377,500    0.288        0    83,500    97,800    738,718    1,411,481
Dr Mike   160,000    0.122        0    58,300    89,000    269,323    1,543,808
Watts
Malcolm    30,000    0.023        0    52,100    78,000    622,673      601,802
Thoms
Phil            0        0        0    50,200    59,500    461,699      882,176
Tracy
Jann       30,478    0.023        0    33,900    31,300    384,751      735,147
Brown
Simon       2,437    0.002        0    34,600    32,900    192,375    1,102,720
Thomson
Richard    49,200    0.038        0    33,900    37,800    134,145    1,236,649
Heaton




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