Tullow confident of record results on back of new field

TULLOW Oil has forecast record full-year results for 2011, chiefly on the back of strong cash flow from its Jubilee field off the coast of Ghana, which started producing late last year.

In 2010, Tullow’s financial strength increased with pre-tax profits of nearly $480 million (€353m) and revenues of over $1 billion (€735.7m) generated. In its latest trading update, published yesterday, Tullow said its strong performance from earlier in the year continued through the second half, driven by its assets in Ghana. Since the end of 2010, the Jubilee field has produced more than 22 million barrels of oil and is currently producing around 80,000 barrels of oil per day.

Group production levels for 2011, as a whole, are set to come in marginally below expectations, Tullow added. That means that, rather than the 82,000-84,000 of barrels of oil equivalent per day initially anticipated, levels will come in at between 79,000 to 81,000.

Meanwhile, on what was a busy day for Tullow, the company also announced a new chairman yesterday. Simon Thompson, former executive director with international mining giant, Anglo American, has been named as the successor to Tullow’s Pat Plunkett, who announced his intention to retire after 11 years in the role earlier this year.

Tullow has also announced a non-commercial oil discovery at its Montserrado-1 exploration well off the coast of Liberia, which gives an indication that further oil reserves exist in the area.

The company’s chief executive, Aidan Heavey, added that the long-awaited approval to proceed with its plans in Uganda should be granted shortly, with the company primed to progress with field development there.

“With development plans across the group gathering pace and production continuing to grow, the outlook for the full-year, and for 2012, remains very positive,” said Mr Heavey.