Tullow Oil expands in Africa with acquisitions in Kenya, Ethiopia

Tullow Oil, one of the biggest oil producers in Africa is deepening its presence on the continent with acquisitions at the Horn of Africa. Tullow has bought stakes in licenses in Kenya and Ethiopia.

In a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com Thursday September 2, 2010, Tullow says it has acquired  a 50% operated interest in six adjacent licences covering the East African Rift Basins of Kenya and Ethiopia, an area of 97,000 sq km.

Tullow has subsequently signed agreements with Africa Oil Corp (“Africa Oil”) to gain a 50% interest in five licences; Blocks 10BB, 10A, 12A and 13T in Kenya and the South Omo Block in Ethiopia. This acquisition expands on the farm-in to Block 10BA from Centric Energy (“Centric”) announced in August, the release said. The transactions, however, are subject to formal government approvals.

According to the release, under the terms of the agreements with Africa Oil, Tullow will reimburse pro-rata past costs in each of these blocks and will carry Africa Oil for future net expenditures up to $23.75 million.

“We are delighted to be extending our acreage across the prospective East African Rift Basins of Kenya and Ethiopia.

Rift Basins are a core play for Tullow and to date we have discovered and identified resources in excess of 2.5 billion barrels in the Lake Albert Rift Basin in Uganda. We look forward to working with our new partners and applying our valuable technical insights to this under-explored frontier region of East Africa,” Angus McCoss, Tullow’s Exploration Director said.

Tullow Oil is the major stakeholder in Ghana’s largest oil field – the Jubilee oil field said to contain about 1.5 million barrels of oil. Commercial production in the field is expected to begin in November or December this year.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi