Tullow Oil: Expects Govt Approval For Uganda Asset Deal Tue

6th Jul 2010 07:59

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) believes it will receive notification from the Ugandan government Tuesday that it has approval to purchase the Lake Albert oil licenses of Heritage Oil Ltd. (HOIL.LN) and sell on a portion of them to Total SA (TOT) and China National Offshore Oil Company (CEO), the company's Chief Financial Officer Ian Springett, said. Tullow representatives will meet with the Ugandan government later Tuesday and the precise details of the government's position can't be known until then, Springett said. Tullow agreed in January to purchase Heritage's half-share in two oil licenses for up to $1.5 billion, pre-empting a previous sale agreement with Italy's Eni SpA (E). The Heritage deal would give Tullow 100% of the three Lake Albert licenses, but it has also agreed to sell on a third of these licenses to both Total and Cnooc. Final approval of these deals has been delayed several months by a dispute between the government and Heritage over how much capital gains tax is payable on the proceeds of the sale. Company website: http://www.tullowoil.com -By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 06, 2010 02:59 ET (06:59 GMT)