Tullow to take secondary listing in Ghana

EXPLORATION GROUP Tullow will issue about €58 million worth of new shares – at yesterday’s prices – in order to take a secondary listing on Ghana’s stock exchange.

The Dublin and London-listed company is on track to begin producing 50,000 barrels of oil a day from the Jubilee field off the west African country’s coast next month. This is likely to increase to about 120,000 barrels a day within three to six months, according to a statement issued by Tullow yesterday.

The company said that in order to allow Ghanaian individuals and institutions to invest in the local oil industry by buying into Tullow, it planned to take a secondary listing on the local stock market and issue up to four million new shares.

The group was trading at about £12.47 and £12.48 in London yesterday and at €14.50 in Dublin. At those prices, four million shares would be worth about €58 million, or just under £50 million.

The company’s market capitalisation was about €13 billion yesterday.

A dispute between the Ugandan government and Tullow’s former partner in one part of its interests in the country’s Lake Albert rift basin, Heritage Oil and Gas, is continuing to hold up the next phase of the field’s development.

Tullow bought out Heritage for $1.5 billion early this year, making it the sole owner. It then agreed a three-way partnership with French giant Total and Chinese player CNOOC to bring the field to production.

Heritage is disputing a capital gains tax claim that the Ugandan government has made against it.

The government will not give Tullow’s partnership deal with Total and CNOOC the go-ahead until the row is resolved.

Tullow’s performance in the rest of Africa has been in line with expectations. The Irish company has interests across the continent. Earlier this year it made further discoveries off Ghana.

The company has been in the initial stages of work in South America where there are similar geological formations to those that have yielded oil in Africa.

Initial data indicates that the Zaedyus field in French Guiana, where it holds a licence, could hold several “Jubilee-type” prospects. It hopes to begin drilling there early next year.