Exploration company Tullow Oil is to buy a 50% stake in six exploration licences in Kenya and Ethiopia, expanding its operations in east Africa.
Under the deal, Tullow will pay Canada's Africa Oil up to $33.75m for a share of six licences that cover two exploration blocks in Kenya and one in Ethiopia.
'We are delighted to be extending our acreage across the prospective East African Rift Basins of Kenya and Ethiopia,' said Angus McCoss, exploration director at Tullow Oil.
'Rift Basins are a core play for Tullow and to date we have discovered and identified resources in excess of 2.5 billion barrels in the Lake Albert Rift Basin in Uganda,' he added.
The East African Rift Basin acreage shares many geological attributes with Tullow's Lake Albert Rift Basin position in Uganda, but it is about ten times larger. The acreage, which is located 500 km to the east of Lake Albert, has good evidence of a live oil system, the company said.
Tullow has operations across 22 countries in four main regions in Africa, Europe, South Asia and South America. In Africa, the group has interests in several countries that include Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Uganda.
The deal is still subject to formal government approvals.
