Listing not a priority yet– Tullow Uganda

TULLOW Uganda Limited, the lead operator in Uganda’s onshore oil find, says floating part of its stake in the Uganda Stock Exchange (USE) is currently not its priority.
The company’s Corporate Communications Manager, Ms Cathy Adengo, said in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in Hoima, Uganda, that “we do not have a plan to list on the USE now because listing is not our priority at the moment.

“At the moment, our priority is to develop the wells, do well appraisals and test-drillings,” she said.

Cathy Adengo

The company is currently undertaking well appraisals and developments in some of the 46 wells that it has explorative and drilling rights in.

Although the issue of Tullow Uganda floating a part of its stake in the Ugandan exchange was initially proposed, the company’s Corporate Communications Manager said it has been shelved for the time being to enable the company focus more on pressing needs. Those needs, she said included well appraisals, developments and test-drillings.

She could, however, not say if the company will reconsider the possibilities of Tullow Uganda joining the USE anytime soon given that “such a decision will have to be taken by the group – Tullow Plc.”

 A successful floatation of Tullow’s stake on the USE will make Uganda the second African country in which the company’s shares are traded in.

Although Tullow produces oil in six countries across the continent, it is listed only in Ghana, the country that accounts for the group’s largest productions figures in Africa. It is also listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE).

Meanwhile, 16 Ghanaian and Ugandan journalists have completed a 10-day training course in oil, gas and mining (OGM) in Kampala, Uganda.

The course which was interfaced with field trips to oil appraisal and drilling sites in Ugandan’s oil rich basin, the Lake Albert, was aimed at strengthening the quality and quantity of media reportage on the extractive sector in Africa, particular Ghana and Uganda.

It was organised by the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) and supported by the Thompson Reuters Foundation, Pensplusbytes in Accra, Ghana, and the African Center for Media Excellence (ACME), based in Kampala, Uganda.