TWENTY years after its formation, Tullow is set to return to its roots with an ambitious energy project in Africa that involves more than just drilling for oil and gas.

Tullow is in the process of assessing the viability of developing the massive Kudu gasfield, off the coast of Namibia. The company expects to drill two appraisal wells next year to confirm the size of the discovery, which to date has been put at 1.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves and possible total reserves of up to 9 Tcf. The gasfield development is part of a $1 billion integrated power project that will supply gas over a 20-year period to Namibia.

Even if Tullow dilutes its 90 per cent stake in the field, Kudu and its $450 million phase-one development cost would remain a significant project for the London-based company. It was a similar engagement — a joint venture with Senegal’s national oil company in 1987 to develop some of that country’s energy resources — that kick-started Tullow’s life as an emerging oil and gas company.

Aidan Heavey, a qualified accountant, first came across Tullow around 1981, when the company was a struggling engineering business near Dublin. One of Tullow Engineering’s subsidiaries was a distribution division, Tullow Oil. Within three years of joining the parent company, Heavey and his backers bought out the Tullow Oil subsidiary and transformed it into the exploration company that it is today.

By 1989, with a successful stint in Senegal under its belt, Tullow Oil listed on the London and Dublin stock exchanges. That year, Tullow began its British development initiatives with the first onshore licences. The step-change, however, did not happen until 2000, when Tullow paid £200 million for a BP suite of producing gasfields in the UK’s southern North Sea sector. It proved to be a catalyst for Tullow to become a serious player in the CMS and Thames/Hewett areas. Last December’s acquisition of the Schooner and Ketch fields cemented Tullow’s position in the area.

Tullow recently moved from Central London to cheaper headquarters at Chiswick. There are offices in Dublin, which runs the African operations, and in Cape Town, where the exploration team is based.

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