UPDATE:Uganda To Decide If Eni, Tullow Buy Heritage Oil Assets
18 Janvier 2010 - 12:50PM
Dow Jones News
The Ugandan government will decide whether Tullow Oil PLC
(TLW.LN) or Eni SpA (E) will be allowed to purchase Heritage Oil
PLC's (HOIL.LN) two oil licenses in the country's Lake Albert
basin, Heritage said in a statement Monday.
"The Government will determine which transaction to approve in
its role as final arbiter," said the statement. "Heritage remains
able to accept any superior proposal (unmatched by Tullow) made by
any other party at any time prior to Heritage's shareholders'
meeting on 25 January 2010," where the transaction will be
approved.
Paul Mubiru, the acting permanent secretary of Uganda's Ministry
of Energy and Minerals said in a telephone interview Monday that
the government is still waiting for an official communication from
Tullow Oil over its decision to pre-empt and has not yet decided
whether to approve the deal. The government is likely to reach a
final decision on the matter within a few weeks, he said.
Heritage agreed last month to sell its half-share in Ugandan oil
blocks 1 and 3A to Eni for up to $1.5 billion, but Tullow Oil
decided Sunday to exercise its contractual rights to pre-empt the
sale and purchase the blocks itself.
Tullow and Heritage have discovered around a billion barrels of
oil in the three blocks in the Lake Albert Basin. Tullow and
Heritage have equal shares in block 1 and 3A and Tullow has 100% of
block 2.
Tullow plans to sell half of each of the three blocks to one or
two major oil companies who will help with development of a 1,200
kilometer export pipeline and refinery in Uganda, Chief Executive
Aidan Heavy said Monday.
Uganda's government has been split over whether Tullow or Eni
should buy Heritage's assets.
Some officials at Uganda's Energy Ministry and Minerals were
strong supporters of Eni's entry into Uganda and have previously
expressed concern that allowing Tullow to pre-empt would give it
too much control of Uganda's oil industry.
However, other government officials gave their backing to
Tullow, including the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Energy
and Minerals who advised Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni against
the Eni deal in a security briefing to the president seen by Dow
Jones Newswires.
Heavey told Dow Jones Newswires Sunday that Tullow is acting
with the full blessing of the government and he was confident it
would approve the pre-emption.
"Eni is waiting to receive indications from the Government of
Uganda before exercising its right to terminate the sale purchase
agreement with Heritage," the company said in a statement
Monday.
Heritage said it expects to close the sale to either Tullow or
Eni before the end of the first quarter.
"The successful monetization of the Company's Ugandan interest
highlights the importance of our first mover advantage strategy as
Heritage was the pioneering company in the Albert Basin," said
Heritage Chief Executive Tony Buckingham.
-By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@dowjones.com
(Gilles Castonguay in Milan and Nicholas Bariyo in Kampala contributed to this item)
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