Round 2.1 Winner Progressing With Development Plan to First Oil

CAIRN ENERGY IN MEXICO

Cairn Energy, one of Europe’s leading independent oil and gas exploration and development companies, is delighted with the award of two offshore licenses in Mexico, which we believe will provide an exciting opportunity to build a strategic position in this highly prolific, yet under-explored region. Cairn will operate in Mexico through its wholly owned subsidiary, Capricorn Energy Mexico. Cairn and its partners successfully secured two important oil and gas exploration licenses in Round 2.1, Blocks 7 and 9, which are in close proximity to recent world-class discoveries in the Sureste basin. Cairn is partnered with ENI, an experienced explorer and operator in Mexico, as well as Citla Energy, a Mexican-focused exploration company. We look forward to  working with our new partners and the government of Mexico to deliver an exciting work program that will include drilling four exploration wells.The licenses, one operated and one non-operated, cover approximately 1,100km2 and are located in water depths of 100-500m, approximately 50km offshore. Multiple attractive prospects in a variety of play types have been identified. Cairn has recently appointed General Manager Luis Ramirez to lead its local business and Cairn opened an office in Mexico City in early 2018.

INTRODUCING CAIRN ENERGY

Cairn is an experienced oil and gas operator and has successfully discovered and developed reserves in a variety of international locations, including Asia and most recently West Africa, where the company made the largest global oil discovery of 2014 and established a new hydrocarbon province in Senegal. Cairn has been listed on the London Stock Exchange for almost 30 years and is a member of the FTSE 250. Cairn’s exploration focus is across frontier, emerging and mature basins from which the greatest value can be created. The company’s exploration activities have a geographical focus in northwest Europe, West Africa and the Atlantic margin, underpinned by interests in production and development assets in the North Sea. Cairn has its headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland, supported by a number of operational offices.

TRACK RECORD

Cairn has a strong track record of adding value to government and joint venture partnerships. We have substantial global exploration and production experience as well as having formed, and contributed to, multiple partnerships both past and present. We work with NOCs, IOCs and private and listed independent oil companies. Our goal is to deliver lasting benefit to the countries and communities in which we invest. At the heart of our culture is a commitment to working responsibly, delivering value for our stakeholders in a safe, secure, environmentally and socially responsible manner.

EXPERIENCE AND CAPABILITIES

Cairn has explored, discovered, developed and produced oil and gas in a variety of locations throughout the world as an operator and partner in all stages of the oil and gas life cycle. We have a track record of safe and effective operations and extensive experience operating both onshore and offshore. Our industry credentials include opening numerous oil basins and creating value through exploration success and commercializing resources.

EXPLORATION SUCCESS

Historically, Cairn focused on South Asia where the company was a committed long-term investor. Cairn had the vision to recognize the potential in India and the persistence to deliver a countrywide strategy and series of flagship projects during a 20-year commitment and investment program. Cairn long believed in the hydrocarbon potential of the Indian subcontinent, which had been underexplored. When others saw few prospects in India, Cairn identified and secured a number of key assets that we believed contained material prospects. Cairn created transformational growth and significant value in India through the successful discovery, development and production of substantial oil and gas resources. Cairn’s active role in developing those reserves helped to build India’s domestic oil industry, increasing its energy security. Cairn established a world-class oil province in Rajasthan, which was the largest onshore discovery in India for more than 25 years with the potential to provide more than 30 percent of India’s daily crude oil production and generate many billions of US dollars in revenue for the country. In a nation faced with rapid economic growth and increasing energy demands, this step-change in domestic production was of significant value to the country and remains crucial to India’s development. More recently, Cairn has been successful in Senegal, completing 11 exploration and appraisal wells over the last three years. With a strong technical belief in the potential of the acreage, the company and its partners made two basin opening discoveries with the first deepwater wells to be drilled in offshore Senegal. These discoveries established a new hydrocarbon basin and attracted the attention of the global industry. Cairn and its joint-venture partners have now established the foundations for a multifield, multiphase exploitation plan. Development planning is now progressing to first oil.