Director/PDMR Shareholding

RNS Number : 9394B

Cairn Energy PLC

09 April 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 April 2013

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

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

in the Company's Shares

1. Award of Free Shares under the Company's 2010 Share Incentive Plan

Cairn announces that, on 9 April 2012, awards of up to £3,000 worth of ordinary shares of ²³¹/₁₆₉ pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") were made to eligible employees under the "Free Share" element of the Company's HMRC approved all-employee Share Incentive Plan (the "SIP"). No consideration was paid for the grant of these awards.

Details of the Executive Directors and PDMRs who participated in the award are as follows:-

Executive Director / PDMR	Number of Free Shares Awarded
Simon Thomson, Chief Executive	1,063
Dr Mike Watts, Deputy Chief Executive	1,063
Jann Brown, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer	1,063
Richard Heaton, Exploration Director and Head of New Ventures	1,063
Paul Mayland, Chief Operating Officer	1,063
Phil Dolan, Director of Operations	1,063
Douglas Taylor, Deputy Finance Director	1,063
Ian Watt, Regional Director (North Atlantic)	1,063
Rob J E Jones, Regional Director (Mediterranean & North Africa)	1,063
Svein Ilebekk, Regional Director (UK & Norway)*	0

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

The above awards were based on an Ordinary Share price of £2.82, being the mid-market price of a Cairn share as at close of business on 8 April 2013.

The Ordinary Shares awarded to participants in the SIP were purchased in the market by the trustee of the SIP trust (the "Trustee"). In accordance with the rules of the SIP, the Trustee will normally hold these Ordinary Shares on behalf of the relevant individuals throughout a holding 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	385,802	0.064	1,404,507
Dr Mike Watts	1,163,351	0.193	1,347,201
Jann Brown	293,969	0.049	1,217,851
Richard Heaton	598,521	0.099	638,694
Paul Mayland	11,283	0.002	601,060
Phil Dolan	24,057	0.004	466,361
Douglas Taylor	38,527	0.006	276,476
Ian Watt	62,740	0.010	361,323
Rob J E Jones	137,666	0.023	319,819