Cairn is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company. The main area of focus is South Asia.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

The Times - October 04, 2006

Senator's victory on gaming is an unlikely boon to Cairn - By Nick Hasell


SIR BILL GAMMELL, of Cairn Energy, has more reason than most FTSE 100 chief executives to be grateful to Bill Frist, the majority leader of the US Senate.

With the demerger of GUS into its two constituent parts Experian and Home Retail slated for next Wednesday, the lowest-valued FTSE 100 constituent as of Fridays close is due to be edged out of the benchmark index. Unusually for such a split, those two parts are currently big enough implicitly valued at roughly 5.6 billion and 3.7 billion respectively to qualify as FTSE 100 members in their own right. For example, the forthcoming split of Severn Trent, up 1p at 13.64 also due next week will see the spun-off Biffa take its place in the FTSE 250. As of last week, the GUS shake-up spelt the end of Cairns tenure in the blue-chip index, which it rejoined last September.

With a market capitalisation of 2.94 billion, Cairn was in the uncomfortable position of being the 101st company in the FTSE indices after the GUS demerger, just behind Bradford & Bingley, up p to 466p. But Cairns saviour appeared at the weekend in the unlikely form of Mr Frist, whose unexpected legislative victory against online gaming has devastated the sector. Specifically, barring a massive reversal, PartyGaming valued at 1.6 billion at last nights close will be ejected from the FTSE 100.

Some say that being in the FTSE 100 has it's disadvantages, as those members are in the grip of the Tracker funds which make life difficult for the small investor.

13 October 2006 - Independent

Market Report: - By Andrew Dewson - Cairn investors find a devil in offer's details


The prospect of Cairn Energy's initial public offering of its Indian operations has supported the price against a falling oil market, but the devil is in the details and the publication of the offer documents sent the shares into freefall.

The retention of 69.5 per cent of Cairn India by the UK-listed parent means that less of the proceeds will be available to UK shareholders. A slightly bizarre research note from the Dutch broker ABN Amrodid not help the stock. The broker reiterated its "buy" recommendation but with an 1,800p target. Seeing as the shares closed on Wednesday at 1,907p, the bank's clients probably won't be too happy if the target is hit. As it happens, the news on the Indian IPO was enough to send the shares 215p lower to 1,673p, before a late rally saw the shares close at 1,835p, 53p worse.

Banking stocks were in focus once again as a rumour did the rounds that the US banking giant Citigroup, the world's largest financial group, is poised to make a large European acquisition. The word among traders is that it will be the French bank SociGale, but traders were also backing Barclays, 12.5p better at 722p, a new high, and Lloyds TSB, 4.5p firmer at 559p.

In the wider market, strong earnings figures from several US stocks, including McDonald's and Costco, sent the Dow Jones sharply higher, helping the FTSE100 to climb 47.8 by the close to 6121.3. Property and mining stocks were the key drivers in London - British Land added 27p to 1,432p, with Land Securities up 22p to close at 2,030p. The London blue chip index is now 16 points short of a new intra-day high for the year.

It isn't every day that a stock rises almost 8 per cent after delivering a profit warning, but that is exactly what shares in the paper and packaging group DS Smith did yesterday. The company warned in September that first-half profits will be much lower than anticipated, so traders put yesterday's rise down to a combination of a relief rally and short covering. A bullish sector note from Citigroup also helped the shares to climb 12p to 167.25p.

A bout of vague bid speculation got traders excited about FirstGroup, the transportation group, sending the shares 29p firmer to close at 538p. With the utility sector having taken just about as much bid chat as it can take, traders are busy looking for the next sector that will attract the interest of private equity cash. Rivals National Express and Arriva were also well bid, closing 21p better at 948p and 10.5p better at 675.5p respectively. All three stocks are trading at all-time highs.

It looks like traders do not believe rumours that United Business Media, the publishing group, is about to attempt a management buy-out. The shares rallied in early trade as talk did the rounds that the group will offer shareholders 750p to take the company private, but by the close sellers had cashed in, sending the shares 2.5p worse by the close to 681p.

Another mid cap takeover tale surrounds the housebuilder Taylor Woodrow. Bid speculation in the sector has been quiet for a while, after a hatful of stories in the spring and summer. Given the premium that McCarthy & Stone attracted, it is a sector that few investors are prepared to go short of. Taylor Woodrow closed 11.25p firmer at 381.25p.

In the small caps, follow-through buying after Wednesday's bullish trading statement in International Medical Devices sent the shares 1.25p better to 4.87p, the best performer in the smaller end of the market. The broker Corporate Synergy also upgraded the shares, telling clients that the current rating does not reflect the company's growth prospects.

Central African Mining rallied 2p to close at 39p, but market makers put the jump down to some short covering rather than genuine buying support. The word in the market is that a large number of short sellers are looking to take out positions in the stock but are being put off by the fact that the respected investment bank Credit Suisse has given the company lots of support.

Among the disasters of the day was Betcorp, after the company warned investors that the anti-gaming legislation in the United States will have a "very serious impact" on group revenues. The shares lost another 15.5p yesterday to close at 15p.

Finally, It was an even worse day for Cartucho Group, the printer ink cartridges company, after a big order failed to materialise, leading to a severe warning on full-year results. Ian Diery, chairman, and Michael Willcocks, chief executive, paid for the warning with their jobs, as the shares tanked to close at 3.12p, down 5.63p, a loss of 64.3 per cent.

The prospect of Cairn Energy's initial public offering of its Indian operations has supported the price against a falling oil market, but the devil is in the details and the publication of the offer documents sent the shares into freefall.

The retention of 69.5 per cent of Cairn India by the UK-listed parent means that less of the proceeds will be available to UK shareholders. A slightly bizarre research note from the Dutch broker ABN Amrodid not help the stock. The broker reiterated its "buy" recommendation but with an 1,800p target. Seeing as the shares closed on Wednesday at 1,907p, the bank's clients probably won't be too happy if the target is hit. As it happens, the news on the Indian IPO was enough to send the shares 215p lower to 1,673p, before a late rally saw the shares close at 1,835p, 53p worse.

Has the tide changed for this, the charts is looking as if its on a road of long recovery? if ignore the bid rumour today it looks it may be worth a punt for medium term? Is the chart revealing a 'Falling Wedge' reversal?

Just a note of caution; Evolution Securities gave this a reduce rating on the 10th may with a target price of 1476p.

Thanks Harrycat, thats a bit low from current sp. Surprised to see sp still rising since re-rating.

A bit strong this morning, any news?

Released on the 10th May '07:
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Cairn India Ltd, a unit of Cairn Energy PLC, said it found more oil in the Rajasthan basin.
The latest strikes were made in the Kameshwari West-2 and Kameshwari West-3 wells.

'The two discoveries confirm our belief that the Rajasthan basin is world class and will continue to add incremental value,' said Rahul Dhir, chief executive of Cairn India.

Kameshwari West-2 is located 56 kilometres south of the Mangala field, India's largest find in over 20 years. It flowed 450 barrels of liquid per day for seven hours during drill stem testing, Cairn India said.

Kameshwari West-3, meanwhile, encountered up to 16 metres of gas pay. Further tests on the hole confirmed the presence of a 'gas pool' which flowed around 75,000 standard cubic feet per day.

'The deeper test of the potential oil accumulation remains inconclusive due to the tight nature of the reservoir rock,' added the company, which is 69 pct owned by Cairn Energy.

Cairn India also revealed the Indian government gave the company another six months to explore the Northern Appraisal Area of licence RJ-ON-90/1.

The extension, which will begin from May, will allow Cairn India to explore the full potential of the 879-square-kilometre NAA, it said.

Harrycat I think Citigroup have re-rated as buy today which probably explain strong rise together bid spec in the sector

The has been a suggestion of a bid for their Indian assets. If there is a bid coming then the directors don't seem aware of one. From today's RNS it would seem they have been willing sellers.

Cairn Energy PLC
18 May 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

18 May 2007
CAIRN ENERGY PLC ('Cairn' or 'the Company')

Interests of Directors/Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility ('PDMRs')

in the Company's Shares

Cairn announces that it has today been notified by the Trustee of the Company's
Employees' Share Trust ('the Trust') that a total of 444,021 Ordinary Shares
were released by the Trust on 17 May 2007 to the Executive Directors and certain
PDMRs of the Company under the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan 2002 ('2002
LTIP'). The shares comprise (i) 46,800 of the 93,600 Ordinary Shares which
vested on 28 March 2007 and (ii) 397,221 Ordinary Shares which were released to
certain Executive Directors/PDMRs following the expiry of the one year
withholding period in respect of previous LTIP awards.

Details of the shares released from the Trust are as follows:-

Director/PDMR Shares released pursuant Shares released pursuant Total
to vesting on 28 March to expiry of withholding shares
2007 period released
Sir Bill
Gammell, 12,600 96,888
Chief Executive 109,488

Dr Mike Watts, 7,600 80,888 88,488
Exploration
Director

Malcolm Thoms, 7,600 72,388 79,988
Chief Operating
Officer

Phil Tracy, 6,400 61,519 67,919
Engineering &
Operations
Director

Jann Brown, 4,200 36,519 40,719
Finance Director

Simon Thomson, 4,200 36,519 40,719
Legal &
Commercial
Director

Richard Heaton, 4,200 12,500 16,700
Head of
Exploration

Following the release of shares from the Trust, the Executive Directors/PDMRs
sold a total of 405,312 shares (327,374 of the shares released from the Trust
and 77,938 shares from personal shareholdings) at a price of 17.5333 per share
on 18 May 2007. Details of the share sales and the resulting effect on the
Executive Directors'/PDMRs' shareholdings are set out below:-

Previous Shareholding Shares Sold* New Shareholding

Director/PDMR

Sir Bill Gammell 697,426 187,426 **500,000

Dr Mike Watts 274,115 74,115 200,000

Malcolm Thoms 89,252 51,652 37,600

Phil Tracy 74,319 27,919 46,400

Jann Brown 48,981 16,781 32,200

Simon Thomson 47,356 40,719 6,637

Richard Heaton 74,618 6,700 67,918


* includes (i) 77,938 shares sold by Sir Bill Gammell in addition to the shares
being released to him from the Trust and (ii) shares sold to cover income tax
and national insurance liabilities.

** a further 10,000 shares were gifted to charity by Sir Bill Gammell on 18 May
2007. This is reflected in his new shareholding.


Cairn also announces that Hamish Grossart, non-executive Deputy Chairman, sold
27,500 shares on 18 May 2007 at a price of 17.5333 per share.


Following this announcement the relevant Directors'/PDMRs' beneficial interests
in the Ordinary Shares of the Company are as follows:-

Director/ Number of % Issued Outstanding Awards Outstanding Awards
PDMR Ordinary Share Capital under 2002 LTIP Under 2006 LTIP
Shares
Tier One Tier Two Cairn Capricorn
India Units
Units
Sir Bill
Gammell 500,000 0.383 83,500 97,800 515,118 897,196

Dr Mike 200,000 0.153 58,300 89,000 187,803 981,308
Watts

Malcolm 37,600 0.029 52,100 78,000 482,923 280,374
Thoms

Phil 46,400 0.036 50,200 59,500 321,949 560,748
Tracy

Jann 32,200 0.025 33,900 31,300 268,291 467,290
Brown

Simon 6,637 0.005 34,600 32,900 134,145 700,935
Thomson

Richard 67,918 0.052 33,900 37,800 134,145 700,935
Heaton

Hamish 5,000 0.004 - - - -
Grossart

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Media comment. click HERE

have I missed a thread or does no one folow this stock?

Cairn found oil in an virgin oil territory in the deserts of Rajasthan and have brought it to market. In the course of 6 years or so their share price has gone up at least 10 times. They hope to do the same in the icy waters off Greenland and exploit a potential world class oil field but they have surprisingly no following on this BB unlike the Falkland oilies. I'd love to see what Marymar from the Rockhopper thread thinks of Cairn's chances.

Cairn Energy's first Greenland oil drilling season was a "royal flush" and the company will invest $1.2bn (755m) on up to 12 wells over the next three years. The Edinburgh-based exploration company is already spending $400m on four wells in the unexplored Arctic region this year, of which the first found traces of gas and the second traces of both oil and gas, says the Independent.

Cairn AGM was held on 19 May. They will host a visit to Greenland for analysts and investors from 23 - 25 May and will display a presentation on their web site on 24 May. They have agreed with Vedanta to extend the deadline for a deal to sell a 40% stake in Cairn India to Vedanta pending agreement from the Government of India.(See Interim Management Statement dated 19 May on Cairn web site) If this deal goes ahead, proceeds should amount to about 5.8B. Their current stock market value is about 6B. They will retain a stake of 22% in Cairn India. Drilling of 4 wells offshore Greenland is imminent. This news does not seem to be reflected in the share price.

i confess that i haven't followed CNE for many a long day, and indeed it seems to have fallen from the limelight in the last year or so.
the comparative chart over the last year shows how CNE (blue) performance has badly lagged behind TLW (red) and PMO (green)
i dare say the optimist would say that implies that CNE is undervalued or similar, but my own view is that i would not be overly-tempted to buy until there is some decent upside movement .... indeed it is arguably of some concern that sp is struggling to break back north of the 200 dma

i'll have to find an alternative to PMO as 4:1 share split this morning makes that chart meaningless

==============

i now see the chart has been corrected to allow for the share split

Thanks for your views, Cynic

Hey, where's the oil in Greenland?

Matrix has slashed its target price for Cairn Energy and maintained its hold rating on the stock, saying that chances are running out for the oil explorer.

There are now only three opportunities for drilling success this year in Greenland, and the chances for achieving it look slim, said analyst Charlie Sharp.

The comments come two days after the group announced that the well on the Lady Franklin Block offshore Greenland reached target depth and is being plugged and abandoned.

The target price is lowered from 410p to 370p.