Tullow Oil Plc (TLW), the U.K. explorer with the most licenses in Africa, said it spent more than $1 billion searching for commercially viable deposits of crude in Uganda.

The funds were spent on exploration, seismic studies and drilling, the London-based company said in a statement published today in New Vision, a Kampala-based newspaper. The company has discovered 1 billion barrels of oil in Uganda, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala at fojambo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net