I’m sure dedicated shareholders of Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) will know all about the bank’s financials, prospects and valuation.
But large, established companies such as Tullow often come with many interesting stories from years gone by. I’ve trawled the internet and discovered these fun facts you probably never knew about the FTSE 100 member:
Looking for oil in Africa from Ireland
Tullow is a small town about 35 miles south of Dublin, Ireland. Â While local companies were exploring the North Sea and Irish Celtic Sea, Tullow Oil ventured into the small oil fields in Africa. Â The major oil companies overlooked the small fields and Tullow took their chance to dive into a project in Senegal without any knowledge of the industry or any backers.
Today, Tullow is one of the largest independent exploration companies in Europe with over 140 licenses across more than 20 countries.
Isaac Newton can keep his apple
Tullow uses full tensor gradiometers that enable them to pinpoint where oil is more likely to be under the ground leading to much greater success in drilling.  Gravity gradiometry can measure the density of the subsurface, effectively the rate of change of rock properties. From this information it is possible to build a picture of anomalies under the surface, some of which will resemble oil and gas deposits.
A tough subject, maybe, but not so hard to swallow when it saves you hundreds of millions of pounds in exploration fees.
 Turtle power!
In late 2009, Tullow Oil conducted a 3D seismic survey in the Guyane Maritime licence area. Â Turtles are known to nest and feed along the French Guiana coastline; Tullow entered a training programme which helped to recognise the presence of turtles during the seismic activities.
