(Corrects in third paragraph Aidan Heavey's departure date from
Tullow to 2017 (not 2013))
* Carlyle-backed Boru Energy seeks stakes in two fields
* Deal valued at over $500 million
* It would mark return to Ghana for former Tullow CEO
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - Boru Energy, backed by private
equity giant Carlyle Group, is in discussions with
Occidental Petroleum to acquire its oil and gas fields
in Ghana for over $500 million, industry and banking sources
said.
The acquisition of Occidental's stakes in the offshore
Jubilee and Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) fields would be the
first investment for Boru Energy, led by former Tullow Oil
CEO Aidan Heavey, which Carlyle's international energy
fund CIEP launched in 2019.
It would also mark a symbolic moment for Heavey, who founded
Tullow Oil in 1985 and who oversaw the development of the
Jubilee field which started production in 2010 before stepping
down in 2017 after missing production targets.
Carlyle and Boru Energy declined to comment. Occidental,
which had previously said it was seeking to sell its Ghanaian
assets, declined to comment.
Occidental holds a 24% stake in Jubilee and a 17% interest
in TEN fields, which are both operated by London-listed Tullow
Oil.
The Jubilee field has suffered a number of major technical
setbacks and delays in recent years but its production
stabilized at around 83,600 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in
2020. TEN's production, which started in 2016, reached 48,700
bpd in 2020, according to Tullow Oil's annual report.
Tullow said in its 2020 annual report that the Ghana fields
holds a resource of around 2.5 billion barrels of oil
equivalent.
Occidental acquired the Ghanaian assets through its $55
billion take-over of rival Anadarko in 2019. It has tried to
sell its Ghanaian assets since then.
It had initially agreed to sell all of Anadarko's assets in
Africa to Total but the French energy giant later
opted not to acquire the Ghana assets.
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Hiller in Houston; Editing by
Simon Cameron-Moore)