UK-based Tullow oil and US-based Anadarko Petroleum are due to reveal the discovery of a new oil frontier stretching along the African coast from Ghana to Sierra Leone.
According to a report in UK newspaper the Financial Times, the new discovery measures 1,100 kilometres in length and is linked to recent finds at the Venus well that Anadarko has been drilling off the coast of Sierra Leone.
Both Anadarko and Tullow are said to have spotted the potential of the area, acquiring the rights at rock bottom prices while the extent of its oil reserves were unknown.
Australian oil and gas company Woodside and SpainÔÇÖs Repsol will also benefit from the discovery, as they each hold 25 per cent of the Sierra Leone asset. Anadarko owns 40 per cent and Tullow 10 per cent.
Ghana is already expected to become one of the worldÔÇÖs top 50 oil producers off the back of its Jubilee field, which is due to begin production next year. Jubilee is thought to hold as many as two billion barrels of oil.
Kosmos, the US-based company that originally discovered the assets in Ghana, is currently up for sale and could fetch a price of up to $4 billion. Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell are two of the companies said to be interested in acquiring the firm.
Tullow Oil, founded in 1985 by CEO Aidan Heavey, posted revenues last year of £691 million. The company is headquartered in London.
Texas-based Anadarko had revenues of $15.72 billion last year and 2.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent in its portfolio of assets.
An official announcement regarding the discovery is expected as early as today.
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