Employee Trust Share Purchase

Tullow Oil PLC
08 September 2006

Tullow Oil PLC

8 September 2006

                   Tullow Oil plc ('Tullow' or 'the Company')

The Company was notified on 7 September that the trustee of the Tullow Oil
Employee Trust (the 'Trust') made the following purchases of Tullow Oil ordinary
shares of 10p each ('Ordinary Shares'):
TRADE DATE                      SHARES PURCHASED            PRICE PER SHARE
6 SEPTEMBER 2006                    500,000                           399.1425p

The Trust is a discretionary trust established by the Company for the benefit of
employees of Tullow Oil plc and its subsidiaries. The shares were acquired to
hedge the awards made under the Company's share incentive plans. The total
holding of the Trust following this transaction is 1,000,000 Ordinary Shares
representing 0.154% of the Company's issued share capital.

The executive directors of Tullow are included as potential beneficiaries under
the Trust and are deemed to be interested in all the shares held by the Trust
for the purposes of Section 324 of the Companies Act 1985.

Inquiries

Tom Hickey

+ 44 0208 996 1000



This announcement has been issued through the Companies Announcement Service of

                           The Irish Stock Exchange.




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