Director Shareholding

Cairn Energy PLC
14 December 2000


                 CAIRN ENERGY PLC ('Cairn' or 'the Company')                
                                                                            
                                                                          
                 Section 329 Companies Act 1985 Notification                 


Cairn announces that it received notification on 13 December 2000 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 200,000 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 ('the LTIP').

1. All of the Executive Directors of the Company are potential beneficiaries
of the Trust, namely:-

W B B Gammell
K Hart
M J Watts
M S Thoms

2. The transactions notified on 13 December 2000 in relation to the Trust is:-

Date of Transactions       Number of Ordinary Shares    Purchase Price of     
                                                         Ordinary Shares
              
8  December 2000                  75,000                      £2.10
12 December 2000                 125,000                      £2.105

3. Following this transaction, the total shareholding of the Trust is
2,555,000 Ordinary Shares.

4. The actual number of Ordinary Shares in which each of the Executive
Directors has an interest, subject to certain performance conditions being
satisfied under the LTIP is as follows:-

Name of Director       Number of Ordinary Shares    Number of Notional Shares
                             Under Tier 1                 Under Tier 2
              
W B B Gammell                  400,000                      500,000
K Hart                         245,000                      450,000
M J Watts                      245,000                      450,000
M S Thoms                      245,000                      450,000