Success in Southern North Sea

Tullow Oil PLC
1 August 2002



                              Tullow Oil plc

          First CMS III Development Well Success in Southern North Sea

Tullow Oil Plc, the International oil and gas exploration, development and
production company, announces a successful test of its first Caister Murdoch
System III (CMS III) development well, 44/17a-6Y, in the Hawksley field,
situated in the southern sector of the U.K. North Sea. The well flowed at a
maximum rate of 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

The 44/17a-6Y well, drilled on the Hawksley Field, is the first of six
development wells being drilled on five natural gas fields which jointly form
the Caister Murdoch System III (CMS III) development programme. The
Conoco-operated CMS infrastructure is located 75 miles (120 kilometres) north
east of Theddlethorpe St Helen, Lincolnshire, England. The co-venturers in the
CMS III project are:- Conoco (U.K.) Limited, as operator, 59.5 per cent; GDF
Britain Limited,  26.4 per cent and Tullow Exploration Ltd, 14.1 per cent.

The Ensco 72 jack-up exploration rig drilled the well in 60 feet (18metres) of
water between April 2002 and July 2002. The well was drilled horizontally
through the reservoir and encountered over 1,000 feet of net pay in the
Carboniferous Westphalian formation. An additional reservoir zone was
encountered and the impact of this on the field reserves is being evaluated.



Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive of Tullow commented:

' CMS III is Tullow's most important Southern North Sea project for 2002. We are
delighted, not only with the successful test of Hawksley, but also by the
evidence of potential upside in the additional reservoir zone. This project is
now firmly on target for first gas in the fourth quarter of  2002.'


Further Information:


Tullow Oil plc                                       Binns & Co PR Ltd
Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive                        Judith Parry, 
Tom Hickey, Finance Director                         Emma McCaffrey
Tel: [phone]                                   020 7786 9600
www.tullowoil.com                                    www.binnspr.co.uk



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