LONDON, ENGLAND (Commodity Online): Italian energy giant Eni gave up on its bid to buy the Uganda oil portfolio of Heritage Oil, giving Tullow Oil the room to proceed with an acquisition.

Heritage in December agreed to sell its assets to Eni, though Tullow had the right to pre-empt the deal. The Uganda government last week said it was in favor of Tullow's plans despite a lobbying campaign by Eni to stop the deal.

Heritage on Monday announced the deal with Eni was terminated with "immediate effect," adding the Tullow acquisition was "expected imminently."

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Tullow owns assets in the Lake Albert region, and the acquisition of Heritage Oil's interests gives it full ownership of the area's lucrative oil fields. Tullow executives maintain they have "no intention" of monopolizing the Ugandan oil industry.

Tullow announced plans in January to raise more than $1.6 billion to fund its investments in Africa, adding it could bring in either French giant Total or China National Offshore Oil Corp. to develop a partnership in Uganda. CNOOC during the weekend said it was considering a $2.4 billion stake in Uganda oil assets.

The Financial Times reports that Eni is considering using the money from the Tullow deal to finance projects in Iraq and Venezuela.
Uganda's Lake Albert holdings are estimated at 1 billion barrels of oil. ((EUNewsNet.com and OfficialWire)

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