Tullow Oil: "Very Close" To Approval Of Uganda Asset Deal

6th Jul 2010 07:08

By James Herron Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) is "very close to finalization" of its deal to purchase the Uganda assets of Heritage Oil Ltd. (HOIL.LN) and sell a portion of them on to Total SA (TOT) and China National Offshore Oil Company (CEO), Tullow Chief Executive Aidan Heavey said Tuesday. The much-delayed deal has been awaiting approval for months due to a disagreement between Heritage and the Ugandan government over how much capital gains tax the company should pay on the proceeds of the sale, which will be up to $1.5 billion. Its completion is crucial to the development of over a billion barrels of oil discovered in Uganda's Lake Albert region. Despite the delay, Tullow still expects to produce first oil from the Lake Albert region, for consumption on the local market, by the end of 2011. By 2014 or 2015, Tullow expects to be producing more than 200,000 barrels a day of oil from the region, a portion of which will be exported to international markets. -By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 06, 2010 02:08 ET (06:08 GMT)