17 November, Sweetcrude, Entebbe – Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and Tullow chief executive officer Aidan Heavey has held talks on the final details of the UK explorer’s $2.9 billion asset sale.
They met over closed door in Entebbe and the discussions centered on Tullow’s long delayed sale of two thirds of its assets in the country’s Lake Albertine rift basin to Total and China National Oil Corporation.
“The president still has some slight concerns with the stabilization clauses of the joint venture oil production agreement,” Dow Jones quoted a government official as saying. “But these should be one of the last meetings,” he added.
Tullow spokesman George Cazenove confirmed to the wire service that Heavey had met the president as well as visited Tullow staff in Uganda as part of a wider Africa trip.
According to Ugandan officials, Total executives led by chief counsel Mary Begg-Safar are also scheduled to meet the president this week. Total could not comment immediately, the report added.
The talks underscore the determination of both government and company officials to conclude the long-delayed deal, which is expected to unlock at least $10 billion worth of investments in the country’s oil sector.
Last week, the Ugandan leader rejected parliament’s decision to delay the deal, saying that the move is likely to undermine the credibility of the government and hurt future investments in the country’s nascent oil and gas sector.
