Tullow Oil finance chief to step down as it swings back to profit
10:58, 15 September 2021
Tullow Oil has announced that finance chief Les Wood will step down by the end of March, as it reported a first-half profit of $93m.
The post-tax profit for the six months ending 30 June follows a loss of $1.33bn in the same period last year.
The company, which has been operating in Africa since 1986, booked gross profit of $321m – up from $164m in H1 2020 – while first-half production was in line with expectations.
Production target raised
Tullow, which refinanced $2.3bn of debt earlier this year, said it had raised the lower end of its 2021 production target to reflect increased output from its Simba field in Central Africa.
It also said it had deferred a planned maintenance shutdown of the Jubilee plant in Ghana to 2022, while increasing production from a project in Gabon.
What is your sentiment on UK100?
Output expectations
Tullow said it was now forecasting full-year output to be between 58,000-61,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) – up from its previous forecast of 55,000-61,000 boepd.
"Strong operational performance in the first half of the year and a transformational debt refinancing have put Tullow on a firm footing to deliver our business plan," chief executive Rahul Dhir said in a statement.
"Our West Africa production assets have performed well, and we are narrowing production guidance for 2021 to the upper end of the range. In Kenya, the revised development plan creates a robust project that has the potential to deliver material value to the Government of Kenya and other stakeholders."
Shares in Tullow Oil were up 3.7% at 46.68p on Wednesday afternoon in response to the announcements.
Read more: Gold prices fall after breaking Read more: Gold prices fall after breaking $1,800 on weaker US inflation,800 on weaker US inflation
Related topics