Tullow Oil chief executive, Mr Aidan Heavey, has dismissed as "absolute rubbish" reports in the British financial press that British Gas may be planning a takeover bid. "We have heard nothing from British Gas; this is probably just people spreading rumours with the aim of pushing up the share price." British Gas is one of Tullow's partners in its Pakistani interests and has been mentioned previously as a possible bidder.

Tullow shares tend to trade actively in London and yesterday a further 3.6 million shares dealt close to Tullow's all time high of 75p. At that price, Tullow has a market value of £139 million sterling and is seen by many analysts as an attractive takeover prospect.

Any bidder would, however, have to pay well above the current level for Tullow and one analyst said that any take out price would have to be above 100p. "Tullow has a big fan club so anybody bidding would have to pay up," said the analyst.

Tullow has extensive oil and gas interests in Britain, Senegal and Pakistan. It is the Pakistani interests that are likely to attract any predators. Tullow is involved in gas production and electricity generation in Pakistan and recently raised 810 million to fund these activities.