Tullow profits pumped by investment

Irish oil and gas group Tullow Oil posted a 31% leap in pre-tax profits today as recent investment in new production pumped through.

But the group, which has substantial interests in the southern North Sea, saw shares slide more than 4% or 4p to 85p today as first half results showed tax charges siphoning off profit growth.

The Irish-based group, which has offices in London and Dublin, saw pre-tax profits leap 31% to £16.5m (€23.9m) in the first six months of this year but profit after tax was down from £7.6m (€11m) to £6.8m (€9.85m).

In September last year the group extracted the first gas from its “CMS III” exploration project – linked to a processing terminal at Bacton on the Norfolk coast.

With production up in the first half, Tullow said the outlook for the North Sea interests was one of further strong growth in the second half.

Meanwhile in West Africa the Espoir field in Ivory Coast saw a sharp increase in output despite a delay in bringing the main production zone in the area on stream until the second quarter of this year.

And in South Asia production continued at its interests in Pakistan while a major drilling programme is scheduled to begin in Bangladesh in the second half.

Chairman Patrick Plunkett was upbeat on the company’s outlook.

He said: “We are heading into a very active phase with exploration wells in each of our three core areas, a number of potential development projects and continued strong production and reserve performance.”