AGM Statement

Cairn Energy PLC
04 May 2004


EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AT 1215

                                                                     04 May 2004

                                CAIRN ENERGY PLC

                             Annual General Meeting

The following statement was made by Cairn's Chairman, Norman Murray, at the
Company's Annual General Meeting held today:-

'The Board is delighted with the exploration successes in Rajasthan and the
overall performance of the Group during the first four months of 2004.

Rajasthan
The value of Cairn was transformed in January with the discovery of the Mangala
oil field in northern Rajasthan. Subsequent discoveries at N-A in March and N-C
in April, in the near vicinity to Mangala, have added further significant value.
The appraisal programme for these discoveries, comprising seismic, wells and
testing operations, is now well underway. Preliminary negotiations for oil sales
have also commenced with the Indian Government's nominated buyer.

It is our intention to submit a Declaration of Commerciality to the Indian
Government for Mangala and to have updated Mangala and N-A oil in place volumes
and reserve estimates by the time of the interim results.

During April we conducted a cased hole test in a Fatehgarh reservoir of N-A-1,
which flowed at 2,000 barrels of oil per day on a 32/64 inch choke. This is an
improvement on the open hole test flow rate of 1,200 barrels of oil per day
across the same interval obtained in March and confirms the reservoir quality at
the well location.

In addition, we have recently carried out an open hole barefoot test in
fractured basement below the Fatehgarh in the Saraswati-4 well. The well flowed
at a stable rate of 1,084 barrels of oil per day of 41.5 degree API oil with
1,490 barrels per day of associated water on a 48/64 inch choke. This result
confirms the basement as a viable secondary exploration target in the heavily
faulted parts of the basin, and it may also be relevant to the potential at
Raageshwari, where we have already tested modest volumes of gas from the
basement above untested oil shows.

We now have four drilling rigs operating in Rajasthan, allowing us to conduct
exploration, appraisal and development activities in parallel across the block.

Elsewhere in India, Bangladesh and Nepal
In Gujarat, the Gauri gas field commenced gas production in early April as
scheduled and we also plan to commence an oil production test from a Gauri well
later this year.

I am pleased to report that we have recently received Bangladesh Government
approval for our acquisition of Shell's upstream assets in Bangladesh and
therefore expect to complete the acquisition and transfer of operatorship of
these assets in the near future. We also expect to complete the transaction and
strategic alliance with ONGC announced in October last year during the first
half of 2004, once the consent of the Indian Government to the transaction has
been received.

In addition, we have signed contracts for two new exploration blocks in India
awarded pursuant to the NELP-IV licensing round and we await Nepalese Government
approval of the signature of contracts for five new exploration blocks in Nepal.
In line with our strategic focus on South Asia, we have also completed the
disposal of our interest in the Gryphon field in the UK North Sea.

Group production for the first quarter of the year was 28,969 barrels of oil
equivalent per day net to Cairn (Q1 2003: 27,855 barrels of oil equivalent per
day). Our financial flexibility and balance sheet strength mean that we remain
extremely well placed to move forward quickly with the exciting growth
opportunities in our asset portfolio and we look forward to the remainder of the
year with confidence.'

Enquiries:-

Cairn Energy PLC:
Bill Gammell, Chief Executive                           Tel: [phone]
Dr Mike Watts, Exploration Director                     Tel: [phone]
Kevin Hart, Finance Director                            Tel: [phone]

Brunswick Group Limited:

Patrick Handley, Catherine Bertwistle, Mark Antelme     Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:-

1.      A presentation by the Executive Directors at today's AGM will be made
available on the Company's website at www.cairn-energy.plc.uk as soon as
possible after the Meeting.

2.      'Cairn' where referred to in this release means Cairn Energy PLC and/or
its subsidiaries, as appropriate.

3.       'ONGC' where referred to in this release means Oil & Natural Gas
Corporation Ltd and/or its subsidiaries, as appropriate.




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