Highlands Natural Resources Regulatory News (HNR)

20 Dec 2006 07:00

Tullow Oil PLC20 December 2006 Tullow Oil Plc - Hardman Resources acquisition approved 20 December 2006 - Tullow Oil plc (Tullow) announces that on 18 December 2006,shareholders of Hardman Resources Limited (Hardman) voted in favour of theacquisition of Hardman by Tullow and that on 19 December 2006, the Federal Courtof Australia approved the Scheme of Arrangement relating to this acquisition.The Scheme therefore became effective today. As a result of the Scheme becoming effective, Hardman shares will be suspendedfrom trading on the Australian Stock Exchange from close of trading today inAustralia and trading of Hardman shares on AIM will be suspended prior tocommencement of today's trading in London. The Record Date for participation in the Scheme is 2 January 2007 with anImplementation Date of 10 January 2007. Commenting today, Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive of Tullow said: "We are delighted to receive Shareholder and Court Approval for the acquisitionof Hardman. We look forward to the transaction being implemented in earlyJanuary and the rapid integration of the Hardman business. We are very excitedby the material production, development and exploration opportunities this dealpresents. In particular we are looking forward to accelerating the currentdrilling programme in the Albertine Basin in Uganda to build upon the veryencouraging results we have seen there to date". For further information contact: Tullow Oil plc Citigate Dewe Rogerson Murray Consultants(+44 20 8996 1000) (+44 20 7638 9571) (+353 1 498 0300) Tom Hickey Martin Jackson Joe MurrayChris Perry Notes to Editors Tullow is a leading independent oil & gas, exploration and production group,quoted on the London and Irish Stock Exchanges (symbol: TLW) and is aconstituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The Group has interests in approximately 90exploration and production licences across 17 countries and focuses on threecore areas: NW Europe, Africa and South Asia. Tullow's NW Europe interests are primarily focused on gas in the UK SouthernNorth Sea where it has significant interests in the Caister-Murdoch System andthe Thames/Hewett areas and operates over 60% of its production. In Africa, Tullow has exploration and production in Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Congo(Brazzaville) and Equatorial Guinea and a large gas field development andappraisal programme in Namibia. Tullow also has exploration programmes inMauritania, Senegal, Cameroon, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Angola andGhana. In South Asia, Tullow has exploration and production in Pakistan and Bangladeshand high impact exploration activities in India. For further information please refer to our website at www.tullowoil.com ENDS This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange