(Reuters) – Tullow Oil Plc said on Tuesday two minority partners of its licences in Kenya will withdraw from some blocks in the South Lokichar Basin, leaving the London-listed oil and gas explorer as the sole owner of the oilfield.
The West Africa-focused company said the withdrawal from blocks 10BB, 13T and 10BA was due to “differing internal strategic reasons”, and Tullow Oil remains focused on securing a strategic partnership this year.
The two partners in the Kenyan onshore fields – TotalEnergies and Africa Oil Corp – who held a 25% stake each in the Lokichar field – withdrew after a longer-than-expected process to find a fourth partner in the project.
Tullow forecast its net capital expenditure for 2023 in Kenya to rise to $15 million from nearly $10 million, comprising less than 5% of the group’s overall capex.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru and Shadia Nasralla in London; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
