Tullow hopeful on Ugandan oil talks

A POSITIVE resolution from Tullow Oil’s ongoing negotiations with the Ugandan government is expected to follow the country’s general election later this week.

The dispute is about the final approval for the Irish-founded exploration company’s formal takeover of the former local assets of Heritage Oil and its planned farmdown of them to China’s CNOOC and French company Total.

In its recent full-year trading update — ahead of the publication of its 2010 results in March — in which the company said that its total revenue for last year should amount to around $1.1 billion (€800 million), Tullow said that while the Ugandan/Lake Albert issue has taken longer than expected, negotiations with Government are “progressing well”.