Heritage Oil in merger to carry out Iraq exploration

Thursday 11th June 2009, 3:00PM BST.

Tony Buckingham, chief executive of Heritage Oil.

JERSEY-based Heritage Oil has announced a merger agreement with Turkish company Genel Enerji AS.

Both companies have key licences to carry out oil and gas exploration in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. By combining forces they will become the single largest operator in the area.

Under the terms of the deal Genel Enerji will own 50% of the shares and the enlarged group, rebranded as HeritaGE Oil plc, will be large enough to be admitted to the FTSE 100 Index.

Jersey resident Tony Buckingham, who is currently chief executive of Heritage Oil and has a 33% stakehold in the company, will be appointed as executive chairman and Paul Atherton will continue as chief financial officer.

Mehmet Sepil, currently chief executive of Genel, will be appointed chief executive of the enlarged group.

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