Cairn Energy Regulatory News (CNE)

                                                                                                                                                                                 1 August 2012

CAIRN ENERGY PLC

("Cairn" or the "Company")

Kakelborg Exploration Well

The enclosed announcement has been issued by Wintershall Norge AS (40%; Operator) with regard to the Kakelborg Well in the Norwegian North Sea in which Cairn, through its fully-owned subsidiary Agora Oil and Gas AS, has a 30% interest (Concedo ASA - 20%; North Energy ASA - 10%).

Dry well in the North Sea - 33/6-4

Wintershall Norge AS, operator of production licence 370, has completed drilling of wildcat well 33/6-4. The well is dry.

The well was drilled about 25 kilometres northwest of the Statfjord Nord field in the North Sea.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Paleocene Age.

The well did not encounter reservoir rocks in the Lista formation from the Paleocene.

The well is the first exploration well in production licence 370. The production licence was awarded in APA 2005.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1814 metres below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Jorsalfare formation in the Shetland group in the Upper Cretaceous.

Water depth at the site is 328 metres. The well has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 33/6-4 was drilled by the Borgland Dolphin drilling facility, which will now proceed to production licence 554 in the North Sea to drill wildcat well 34/6-2 where Total E&P Norge AS is the operator.

Enquiries:

NOTES TO EDITORS

Cairn Energy PLC

Ø Cairn Energy PLC ("Cairn") is an Edinburgh-based oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Ø "Cairn" where referred to in this release means Cairn Energy PLC and/or its subsidiaries as appropriate.

Ø Cairn currently holds approximately 18.3% of the issued share capital of Cairn India Limited (CIL).  Production from CIL's Rajasthan operations is 175,000 bopd.

Ø Cairn (including Capricorn) is run from Edinburgh with operational offices in Kathmandu, Nuuk, Madrid and Stavanger.

Cairn in Greenland

Ø Cairn through its subsidiary, Capricorn, operates 11 blocks offshore Greenland.

Ø A total of 14 exploration wells have been drilled offshore Greenland to date, five of which were drilled in the 1970s, one in 2000, three in 2010 by Cairn Energy and five by Cairn Energy in 2011.

Cairn in North West Europe

Ø Agora Oil & Gas is 100% owned by Cairn.

Ø Formed in October 2009 by the former management team of Revus Energy ASA and based in Stavanger, Norway.  Agora has focused on creating exploration and appraisal value in mature parts of the North Sea in areas of low-moderate geological and operational risk.

Ø Agora has 15 employees who are based in Stavanger and the UK.

Cairn in the Mediterranean

Ø Cairn is in the early stages of carrying out frontier exploration in Spain and expects to participate in the offshore Lebanon bid round later this year.

Ø Cairn is participating along with consortium partners in the current bid round offshore Cyprus.

For further information on Cairn please see: www.cairnenergy.com