Cairn Energy Plc Completion of acquisition of Agora Oil & Gas AS

Cairn is pleased to announce that, further to the announcement made on 3 April 2012, it has received all required approvals and today completed the acquisition of Agora Oil & Gas AS ("Agora"). Agora is now part of the Cairn group of companies.
 
Agora is a Norwegian company with non-operated exploration, appraisal and development assets in the UK and Norwegian North Sea.  Agora's portfolio is made up of interests in 11 licenses in the North Sea basin, with an active drilling programme in 2012. 
 
The total consideration is approximately US$453 million, satisfied through a combination of approximately 43.3% / US$196m cash and 56.7% / 47,662,603 Cairn shares (which are expected to be admitted to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market at 8am today).  Following the issue of these shares, the total issued share capital of Cairn will be 602,375,300 shares.
 
Simon Thomson, Chief Executive of Cairn Energy PLC said:
 
"The value of the acquisition of Agora has already been demonstrated with the significant light oil Skarfjell discovery in the Norwegian North Sea. 
 
This is an important initial transaction for Cairn, demonstrating our intention to build a balanced portfolio. 
 
The Agora team's experience and proven track record in identifying opportunities in a relatively mature basin, has the potential to add significant value for Cairn."