CAIRN Energy has recruited two veterans of the oil and gas industry to become non-executive directors.

Keith Lough will join the board of Edinburgh-based Cairn on 15 May. Mr Lough held senior positions with the LASMO oil and gas business and nuclear power generator British Energy before leading the development of the Composite Energy coal bed methane business, which was sold to Dart Energy in 2011. Peter Kallos will join the Cairn board on 1 September. He has spent 32 years working in the industry including spells with international companies ranging from Marathon Oil to Petro-Canada. Mr Kallos is chief executive of Buried Hill Energy, which is focused on the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. Cairn's chairman Ian Tyler said the new directors will be significant assets as Cairn enters an exciting phase in Senegal, where it made two oil finds last year.