Tullow Awarded 5 North Sea Offshore Production Licences

Business Wire, July 22, 2002

Business Editors

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 2002

Tullow Oil plc ("Tullow") (LSE: TLW), the independent oil and gas exploration, development and production company, announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary Tullow Exploration Limited ("TEL") has been awarded five Seaward Production Licenses on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf ("UKCS").

The license awards, announced by the Minister for Industry and Energy, Brian Wilson, on July 18 comprise a total of seven UKCS blocks or part blocks, totaling approximately 340 sq km net to TEL. It represents one hundred percent success for the applications made in this competitive license round. The awards are listed below.

Six of the blocks are in the Southern Gas Basin in close proximity to the Caister Murdoch System ("CMS") infrastructure in which TEL has a significant interest. There are undeveloped gas discoveries on two of the blocks, and a number of significant exploration leads, all of which offer the potential for early commercial production through CMS, in the case of exploration or appraisal success. The work programs allow for the reprocessing of existing 3-D seismic data or the acquisition of new 3-D surveys, with the option to drill or drop the acreage after the data has been thoroughly assessed.

The seventh block is located in the prolific Central North Sea/Outer Moray Firth oil province. This is in partnership with the operator of the Buzzard field, the largest North Sea discovery for a number of years. This represents TEL's first acreage in this area and the block has been awarded on a similar work program to the other blocks.

Aidan Heavey, Managing Director, Tullow Oil plc, said: "We are delighted with this major award of very prospective acreage, which marks a significant step in capitalizing on the success of our purchase of the BP/ARCO assets, completed last year. It fits well with our strategy of growth from around our core areas of North Sea infrastructure. It also gives us our first opportunity to expand into the oil province of the Central North Sea. We look forward to an exciting exploration and appraisal program."

Editor's notes:

The following blocks were awarded by the Department of Trade and Industry to TEL:

Block Number               Licensees and Equity Interests

15/28c            TEL (15%), EnCana (55%)(a), Paladin (20%),
                  Montrose (10%)

44/11 and 44/12   TEL (35%), Gaz De France (37.5%)(a), Consort (27.5%)

44/16             TEL (35%), Gaz De France (37.5%)(a), Consort (27.5%)

44/18b and 44/23b TEL (22.5%), Conoco (50%)(a), Gaz De France (27.5%)

44/28a            TEL (22.5%), Conoco (50%)(a), Gaz De France (27.5%)

(a)denotes operator

Tullow Oil plc is a UK company with primary offices in London (UK) and Dublin (Ireland). Tullow Oil is a dynamic player in the international oil and gas industry. The company has interests in 48 licenses spread over three main areas - Indian Subcontinent, Africa and Europe and has regional offices in each area.

Tullow Oil's shares are listed on London and Irish Stock Exchanges. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbol TLW LN. For further information, visit Tullow's web site at www.tullowoil.com.