Tullow Oil says not interested in Heritage

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - London-based oil explorer Tullow Oil Plc (TLW.L) said on Wednesday it was not interested in buying Canada's Heritage Oil (HOC.TO), a partner in a Ugandan project, and added the upside on its Ghanaian fields could be better than earlier indicated.

Last month, Heritage issued estimates of reserves at Ugandan fields which it co-owns with Tullow, which considerably exceeded Tullow's published estimates.

Industry executives said Heritage might be trying to attract bid interest, possibly from Tullow after Tullow bought another partner in the Ugandan project, Hardman Resources.

But Tullow Chief Financial Officer Tom Hickey denied Tullow was the natural buyer for Heritage, given its existing commitments in the region.

"That's probably enough of Uganda for us," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Hickey added that further drilling and seismic analysis in Ghana suggested an earlier estimate of the potential upside for reserves of 600 million barrels could be exceeded.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC.N) is Tullow's partner in Ghana.