Tullow Oil gets Uganda government backing for Heritage stake

Tullow Oil, majority stakeholder in Ghana’s Jubilee oil field has secured the backing of the Ugandan government for the company’s pre-emption right over the sale by Heritage Oil of a stake in their jointly held oil prospects in that country, the Reuters report citing the state-owned New Vision newspaper.

According to the report, the paper quoted the State Minister for Minerals, Peter Lokeris, as saying the cabinet met on February 2 and decided to back Tullow’s position — effectively stopping a move by Italy’s Eni SpA to buy Heritage’s stake in blocks 1 and 3A.

He was quoted saying “We met on Tuesday and considered the pre-emption right of Tullow and approved it. The decision is final.”

Tullow Oil was recently reported to be planning to list on both the Ghana and Uganda stock exchanges.

The decision according to Tullow would give local people a better chance to get on its share register and potentially share in its success.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi