Cairn is pleased to announce the acquisition by its wholly owned subsidiary, Nautical Petroleum Limited, of an additional 4.5% interest in the Kraken development in the UK North Sea from First Oil plc bringing Cairn’s total working interest to 29.5%.

Cairn Energy PLC and EnQuest PLC, the operator of the Kraken development, are both taking up First Oil’s interests pro-rata to their holdings prior to the transaction. EnQuest’s interests will increase to 70.5% following the transaction.

There is a nominal cash consideration payable in respect of the transaction however Cairn will waive its right to reclaim approximately US$3m of cash calls paid on behalf of First Oil in January and February 2016.

Cairn will acquire the reserves and resources associated with the additional interest and Cairn is not reimbursing First Oil in respect of costs incurred by First Oil to date.

About EnQuest

EnQuest is the largest UK independent producer in the UK North Sea. EnQuest PLC trades on both the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. It is a constituent of the FTSE All share index. Its operated assets include the Thistle, Deveron, Heather, Broom, West Don, Don Southwest, Conrie, Ythan, Kittiwake, Mallard, Gadwall, Goosander and Grouse producing fields and the Alma/Galia and Kraken developments; EnQuest also has an interest in the non-operated Alba producing oil field. At the end of H1 2014, EnQuest had interests in 35 production licences covering 48 blocks or part blocks in the UKCS, of which 29 licences are operated by EnQuest.

EnQuest believes that the UKCS represents a significant hydrocarbon basin in a low risk region, which continues to benefit from an extensive installed infrastructure base and skilled labour. EnQuest believes that its assets offer material organic growth opportunities, driven by exploitation of current infrastructure on the UKCS and the development of low risk near field opportunities.

EnQuest also has interests in Malaysia (including PM8/Seligi and Tanjong Baram) as part of its strategy to expand geographically to a small number of other maturing regions that complement our operations and utilise our skills in the UK North Sea.

About Cairn

Cairn is one of Europe's leading independent oil and gas exploration and development companies. Cairn has its headquarters in Edinburgh (Scotland) and operational offices in London (UK), Nuuk (Greenland), Stavanger (Norway) and Madrid (Spain).