Other stories: Top 10 Middle East oil & gas events in 2010 | World’s 10 largest oilfield technology companies | World’s 10 largest petrochemicals companies | Oil industry giants: ADNOC | Oil industry giants: Saudi Aramco | Top 10 MENA Region mega projects | Top 10 billion dollar oil deals of the summer | 2009’s winners and losers in the oil industry | 10 events in oil’s history that shook the world | Top 10 Gulf mega projects | Top 10 largest publicly traded oil companies | World’s 10 largest oilfield services companies | World’s 10 largest oil and gas contractors
The Anglo-Irish exploration and production company Tullow Oil has won approval from the Ugandan government to buy Heritage Oil’s share in the two oil blocks the companies have the rights to in the African state for US$1.5 billion.
The Financial Times (FT) reported that Ugandan Oil Minister Peter Lokeris had told local media sources that the deal had been approved.
“We met on Wednesday and considered the pre-emption right of Tullow and approved it. The decision is final,” Lokeris is reported by the FT as saying.
The FT added that it had independently verified the remarks.
The move will come as a blow to the Italian supermajor Eni who had been aggressively pursuing the blocks, located in the Lake Alberta basin in the west of the African state, and whose initial $1.5 billion offer to Heritage had resulted in Tullow exercising its right as a partner to match any offer.
As a comparatively small company in the oil industry Tullow will have to bring a partner in to help finance the development of the field. It is believed either China National Offshore Oil Corporation or France’s Total will be the partner.
