Tullow Oil partners with Maersk in exploration of Greenland oil
BRITISH explorer Tullow Oil yesterday acquired a 40 per cent interest in a block belonging to Maersk Oil offshore Greenland.
Maersk Oil will continue to act as operator of the Tooq licence in Baffin Bay, an area of North West Greenland, with a 47.5 per cent interest.
The Tooq licence, which covers an area of 11,802 square kilometres, includes both the acquisition and the processing of 3D seismic data on the site.
Seismic work to determine the prospectivity has already been completed on almost 2,000 square kilometres of the licence.
Tullow, which focuses mainly in Africa, said this morning it will wait for results from the geological tests at Tooq to decide whether or not to drill a well in the area.
Angus McCoss, exploration director at Tullow, yesterday welcomed the partnership between the FTSE 100 listed firm and Maersk in an “unexplored” and “highly prospective” province.
The oil industry hopes to open up a new multi-billion oil province in the seas around Greenland but drilling in the pristine Arctic is strongly opposed by environmental groups who claim cleaning up a spill in the region would be very difficult.
Tullow shares closed up 0.78 per cent at 1,415p yesterday.