Director/PDMR Shareholding

RNS Number : 1622E

Cairn Energy PLC

07 May 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7 May 2013

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

Interests of Directors / Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility ("PDMRs")

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 7 May 2013, 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 £2.845 per Ordinary Share on behalf of participants in the "Partnership Share" element of the SIP using deductions made from their gross salary.

Cairn also announces that, on 7 May 2013, awards of further Ordinary Shares were made to the above participants 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 Executive Directors and PDMRs who participated in the purchase / award are as follows:-

Director / PDMR	Number of Partnership Shares Purchased	Number of Matching Shares Awarded	Total Number of Shares Acquired
Simon Thomson, Chief Executive	527	1,054	1,581
Dr Mike Watts, Deputy Chief Executive	527	1,054	1,581
Jann Brown, Managing Director & Chief Financial Officer	527	1,054	1,581
Richard Heaton, Exploration Director & Head of New Ventures	527	1,054	1,581
Paul Mayland, Chief Operating Officer	528	1,056	1,584
Phil Dolan, Director of Operations	528	1,056	1,584
Douglas Taylor, Deputy Finance Director	527	1,054	1,581
Ian Watt, Regional Director (North Atlantic)*	0	0	0
Rob JE Jones, Regional Director (Mediterranean & North Africa)	527	1,054	1,581
Svein Ilebekk, Regional Director (UK & Norway)**	0	0	0

* Mr Watt does not participate in the partnership shares element of the SIP.

**Mr Ilebekk does not participate in the SIP as he is not a UK resident tax payer.

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 Executive Directors / PDMRs

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

Executive Director / PDMR	Ordinary Shares	% Issued Share Capital	Outstanding Awards under 2009 LTIP
Simon Thomson	387,383	0.064	1,404,507
Dr Mike Watts	1,164,932	0.193	1,347,201
Jann Brown	295,550	0.049	1,217,851
Richard Heaton	600,102	0.099	638,694
Paul Mayland	12,867	0.002	722,272
Phil Dolan	25,641	0.004	466,361
Douglas Taylor	40,108	0.007	276,476
Ian Watt	62,740	0.010	361,323
Rob J E Jones	139,247	0.023	319,819