AGM Statement
Tullow Oil PLC
07 July 2004
Tullow Oil plc
7th July 2004
Tullow Oil plc Annual General Meeting
At Today's Annual General Meeting, Pat Plunkett, Chairman, said:
During 2003 Tullow continued to develop its business in its core areas of the
UKCS, West Africa and South Asia. More recently, the acquisition of Energy
Africa Limited has met our target of achieving production of 50,000 bopd by 2005
while creating a company with an outstanding mix of production interests and
development and exploration opportunities, a strong and experienced team and the
financial capability to continue to grow rapidly in the years ahead. Since the
announcement, a joint integration team has been appointed, and work on
effectively combining the businesses is well advanced. A formal outline of the
revised targets and strategy for the enlarged business will be made in
conjunction with Tullow's Interim Results announcement in September.
The first benefits of the acquisition are already becoming apparent. On 5th
July the Joint Development Agreement in respect of the Kudu project offshore
Namibia was signed by Tullow and NamPower. This represents the first critical
step in a project of national importance for Namibia and has clearly
demonstrated the commercial viability of this gas-to-power project, which has an
objective of first production in 2009.
In addition to Kudu, other material progress made in our West African assets
includes: Uganda, where an additional exploration licence in respect of Block 1
was signed last week, and Equatorial Guinea, where approval of the Development
Plan in respect of Northern Block G is expected shortly. Within our UKCS assets,
contracts in respect of the Horne & Wren project have recently been awarded,
including an unmanned platform installation, with a view to first gas in 2005.
From an exploration perspective, the Group is conducting an extremely active and
ongoing programme throughout its core areas, with over 10 exploration or
development wells currently in progress throughout the portfolio. In recognition
of this, rather than reporting on a well-by-well basis, Tullow will henceforth
provide regular drilling activity updates, encompassing all material assets and
wells. The next such update will be following the conclusion of the Bangora well
in Bangladesh.
Tullow recently announced its intention to appoint an additional independent
non-executive director and I am today delighted to announce the appointment of
David Bamford to the Board of Tullow. David has over 23 years exploration
experience with BP where he was Chief Geophysicist from 1990 to 1995, served as
General Manager for BP in West Africa for a 3 year period from 1995 to 1998, and
most recently acted as Vice President, Exploration, directing BP's global
exploration program. I believe David's experience and judgement will be of
great benefit to Tullow in the years ahead and would like to welcome him to the
Board.
By any standards, the past year has been a very active one for both Tullow and
the sector. I believe the Energy Africa transaction has created a balanced and
well-funded company with potential to add significant value for shareholders in
the years ahead.
All of the resolutions put to the meeting were passed.
For Further Information Contact:
Tullow Oil plc (+44 20 7333 6800)
Aidan Heavey
Tom Hickey
Citigate Dewe Rogerson (+44 207 638 9571)
Martin Jackson
Murray Consultants (+353 1 498 0300)
Joe Murray
Notes for Editors
'Tullow' where referred to in this release means Tullow Oil plc and/or its subsidiaries, as appropriate.
Tullow is one of the leading independent international oil and gas exploration
and production companies in Europe. Tullow is quoted on the London and Irish
stock exchanges (symbol TLW) and is a member of the FTSE 250 Index.
Production and Development Assets
Tullow has interests in over ninety exploration and production licences spread
over three core areas: UK North Sea, West Africa and South Asia. Tullow
recently completed the acquisition of Energy Africa, which takes the number of
countries in which Tullow is active to sixteen.
In the North Sea, Tullow's principal interests are in the CMS and the Thames/
Hewett group of licences and the Bacton onshore gas-processing terminal, which
it operates.
In Africa, Tullow has production in Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Congo (Brazzaville)
and Equatorial Guinea. Tullow also has exploration programmes in Morocco,
Mauritania, Senegal, Cameroon, Uganda and Egypt.
In South Asia, Tullow has production and exploration interests in Pakistan and
is exploring in India, in addition to Bangladesh.
For further information see www.tullowoil.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange