Oil boss warns of $15 increase

TULLOW Oil chief executive Aidan Heavey warned yesterday that oil prices of $75 per barrel will become a fact of life.

The higher oil and gas prices are good news for the group, which said the first half of the year had set a record, not just in terms of production but also in terms of revenue, given the worldwide increases in energy prices.

Tullow Oil more than doubled its output for the same period last year to 57,350 barrels of oil a day.

Tullow said yesterday it expected to produce an average of 60,000 barrels a day for the rest of the year from its wells in Africa.

Speaking after the group issued its trading statement for the first half of its financial year, Mr Heavey said production so far this year was higher than market expectations.

Of 90 projects, 25 are producing oil and gas following last year’s $1 billion (€827 million) purchases of Energy Africa and Schooner and Ketch.

Mr Heavey said: “The first half of 2005 continues to show the benefits of the acquisition and development work undertaken over the last 12 months.”

Recent investments are helping performance, while exploration activity is increasing and “the outlook for the remainder of the year is encouraging”.

In the past six months the group has drilled 30 wells, he said.

Tullow is an independent oil and gas exploration and production group, quoted in Dublin and London, on the FTSE 250 Index.

The group has interests in over 90 production and exploration licences in 16 countries and focuses mainly on Europe, West Africa and South Asia.

Last year was a watershed year as the group more than doubled in size, driven largely by the acquisition of Energy Africa.

The group delivered a strong set of results in terms of growth, profits and development.