Tullow Oil has announced that a long-awaited deal in Uganda is to be completed next month.
The news, which sent the company’s shares rocketing yesterday, was made as the company released its results for the first half of 2011.
Tullow has been waiting since last year to finalise a deal that will bring in new partners, France's Total and China's CNOOC, to commence a €7 billion oil development project in Uganda. The company now expects to complete the deal in September, at which time it will receive approximately €2 billion from the two companies.
In its first half results, Tullow announced record sales revenues of over $1 billion (approx. €693 million), driven by production at its Jubilee field in Ghana.
Commenting, CEO Aidan Heavey said: "We have delivered a strong performance and achieved record results in the first half allowing us to double the dividend. We continue to make good progress with production plans in both Ghana and Uganda and while delays to the farm-down to CNOOC and Total have been frustrating, we now expect completion in September.
“With a strong balance sheet, growing production and a potentially transformational drilling campaign to come, we move into the second half of the year with real confidence."
Headquartered in London, Tullow employs over 1,400 people in global operations spanning 22 countries. The company is Africa’s leading independent oil company with 53 licences in 15 countries.
