Cairn has secured two state of the art dynamically positioned drilling vessels for its 2011 dual rig exploration programme offshore Greenland.

The “Leiv Eiriksson”, a fifth generation semi-submersible drilling rig and the “Ocean Rig Corcovado”, a sixth generation drillship, have been contracted to operate in the 2011 drilling season on Cairn’s offshore Greenland exploration programme. Both drilling vessels are operated by Ocean Rig.

Subject to approval from the Government of Greenland, Cairn intends to drill up to four wells in 2011. Further details on the exploration programme will be provided in Cairn’s next operational update.

To provide the immediate liquidity required to enable the group to agree these contracts, Cairn has entered into a stand-by secured revolving debt facility of US $900 million that will also provide funding for general corporate purposes. The facility is provided by Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of Scotland Plc, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, HSBC Bank PLC and Société Générale.