MULTINATIONAL OIL GIANTS BATTLE FOR UGANDA’S OILFIELDS, AS KAMPALA REGIME APPROVES TULLOW OIL PRODUCTION DEALS AND OBJECTS TO ANY SHARE SALE TRANSACTIONS BY HERITAGE.
Business News By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
Tullow Oil,the Canadian company with whom Heritage Oil, a British Oil firm, shares two blocks in Uganda on a 50-50 share holding, has stated that It has the right to buy its partner’s interests.
This new development comes only days after Heritage announced that it had signed a letter of intent with the Italian Oil company Eni Oil, to sell its stake in the two Ugandan blocks at USD 1.5 billion.
Tullow now insist it has the right to pre-empt the sale, meaning that it has the first option to buy Heritage’s interests in the blocks in question.
“Heritage is obliged to notify Tullow of the final terms and conditions once agreed with Eni Oil,” Mr Brian Gloves, the Tullow Oil Uganda Chief Executive said in an exclusive interview with the government-owned NEWVISION.
“After reviewing the terms of the agreed deal,Tullow then has a period of time in which to decide whether to purchase Heriitage’s interests on the same terms and conditions.”
If Tullow chooses to excises its pre-empt rights, it will enter into a binding agreement with Heritage for the sale of its interests”, Gloves added.
Tullow is looking to sell up to 50 per cent of its own stake. It is particularly looking for investors to help develop the production phase.
After possibly acquiring Heritage’s stake, Mr Gloves said, Tullow would then seek to introduce a new partner to Uganda to support the increased development activities in a transparent way, through the on-going data-room process.”
Earlier on Monday this week, Mr Aidan Heavey, the Tullow’s overall boss, had told a London based newspaper, the TIMES, that potential new partners include “Chinese and other major oil companies.”
The projects approved on Monday by Tullow, include further testing of wells along the shorelines and beneath Lake Albert, the supply of fuel to 50 MW thermal power plants, and the trial out production from oilfields.
Tullow’s board has approved the funding for these projects, he said, adding that they planned to invest an additional USD 500 million {Ushs935n billion}in Uganda over the next three years.
“These projects represent the turning point for Tullow’s works in Uganda from exploration to development and oil production activities, Mr.Gloves was further quoted by the newspaper as saying.
“Uganda will see crude oil production and new power generation become reality in the next two years.”
The agreement to move ahead with the development projects was on account of Tullow’s investment and technical performance, Mr. Gloves added.
The Ugandan government earlier this week said it had not yet approved the sale of the Ugandan oil fields to Eni Oil, an Italian multinational oil giant, which is partly owned by the Italian government.
Ernest Rubando, the Commissioner for the Petroleum Exploration and Production department in the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, was quoted by the same source as saying that any transaction related to the oil discovered in the Libertine Graven, was subject to government approval.”
An impeccable source in Kampala said last night that fear persist in the Ugandan capital that the kinds of exchanges of views and argument between the two international oil giant companies could possibly ends up in courts and legal tussles, unless the two sides give in grounds.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com