LONDON, May 18 (UPI) -- Heritage Oil announced it has launched legal action in London against the Ugandan government over finances from the sale of its Lake Albert oil fields.
Heritage said in a statement that it was left with "no alternative" but to start arbitration proceedings against Uganda. The independent oil company said it received around $1 billion from the sale of two oil blocks in Uganda in July.
Another $405 million was deposited with the Ugandan government and another was put in an escrow account "pending resolution of a tax dispute with (Uganda)."
Heritage claims the Ugandan government "wrongfully or unreasonably withheld consent to the sale by (Heritage) of the rights under the production sharing agreements for Blocks 1 and 3A (in Lake Albert), including by making this consent conditional upon the payment of a sum alleged to be a tax liability of (Heritage)."
Heritage in 2009 agreed to sell its Ugandan holdings to Italian energy company Eni. Tullow had the right to pre-empt the deal, however, and in early 2010 the Ugandan government said it backed Tullow's plans despite a lobbying campaign by Eni to stop the transaction.
Tullow in April filed a claim in a British court claiming Heritage violated its sales contract by not reimbursing the tax payment to the Ugandan government.
