CAIRN ENERGY PLC

RNS Number : 9141D

Cairn Energy PLC

03 April 2014

 



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                          3 April 2014

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

In its announcement issued on 24 January 2014, Cairn undertook to keep the market updated regarding the request from the Indian Income Tax Department for information regarding transactions undertaken by its wholly owned subsidiary, Cairn UK Holdings Ltd ("CUHL") during the Indian fiscal year ended 31 March 2007.

CUHL has filed a nil return for the year in question on the grounds that none of the transactions undertaken by it during that fiscal year is chargeable to tax in India. 

In addition Cairn has received two further notices from the Indian Income Tax Department.  The first, dated 29 March 2014, is a request made to Cairn Energy PLC to file a tax return for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2007. Cairn intends to file a nil return for this notice. 

The second, dated 31 March 2014, claims that CUHL should have withheld tax on dividends paid to its parent company, Cairn Energy PLC.  Neither Cairn nor CUHL has been asked to file any return in respect of this notice and Cairn intends to respond to the notice refuting this claim.

Throughout its history of operating in India Cairn has been compliant with the tax legislation in force in each year. Cairn has stated that it intends to take whatever steps are necessary to protect the Company's interests.

As stated in the earlier announcements, Cairn has been restricted by the Indian Income Tax Department from selling its shares in Cairn India Limited (valued at US$1.0 billion as at 31 December 2013).

Enquiries to:

Analysts / Investors

David Nisbet, Corporate Affairs                                                                              Tel: [phone]

Media

Patrick Handley, David Litterick

Brunswick Group LLP                                                                                           Tel: [phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS

Cairn Energy PLC ("Cairn" or the "Group" or the "Company") is one of Europe's leading independent oil and gas exploration and development companies and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Cairn has discovered and developed oil and gas reserves in a variety of locations around the world.

Cairn's business operations are now focused on frontier exploration acreage in Morocco, Senegal, Republic of Ireland, Greenland, Mauritania and the Mediterranean along with exploration and pre-development interests in the North Sea. Cairn has its headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland supported by operational offices in London, Greenland, Norway, Spain, Morocco and Senegal. 

Cairn and Corporate Responsibility

Ø Cairn is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and our core values of respect, responsibility, relationships and our commitments towards people, the environment and society are enshrined in our Business Principles, which are available on the Cairn website at http://www.cairnenergy.com/index.asp?pageid=282

Ø Cairn became a participating company in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) in September 2013. The EITI is a coalition of governments, companies and civil society, who have adopted a multi-stakeholder approach to applying the EITI global standard promoting transparency of payments in the oil, gas and mining sectors http://eiti.org/

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

 

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