Tullow Oil on track to meet full year guidance after good start to 2014

30th Apr 2014 07:47

FTSE 100 oil and gas giant Tullow on Wednesday confirmed that its full-year guidance remained at between 79,000 and 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) following a good performance since the start of the year. Specifically, the Jubilee field in Ghana remained on track to deliver gross average production of around 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). It saw a good performance in the first quarter, resulting in average gross production for the quarter of 102,000 bopd, as expected. The group also said its TEN development project was making "significant" progress. It remains on budget and on track to produce its first oil in mid-2016. Chief Executive Officer Aidan Heavey said: "We have made good progress across the business since the beginning of the year. Following the issue of our second senior note and the re-financing and expansion of our corporate revolving credit facility, the group is well funded with a strong balance sheet and cash flow to support exploration, development and production activities. "Exploration success in Kenya has continued with the Amosing and Ewoi discoveries in January and development planning for oil production in Kenya and in Uganda is well under way [...] Progress with the sale of Tullow's Southern North Sea gas assets has been made with a farm-down of the Schooner and Ketch fields agreed and conclusion of our Pakistan asset sale is expected in the coming months. "With high-impact well results expected in the coming months from new and existing basins in Kenya, Ethiopia, Gabon and Norway, there is much to look forward for the remainder of the year and beyond."Meanwhile, although production in Europe has been broadly in line with its expectations, the group said its production rates were affected in February by at the SA11 well on the Schooner field in the UK CMS area. Following treatment in March by way of regular water washes, stable production from the well has resumed. The group also announced on Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement to farm down 53.1% of its Schooner unit interest and 60% of its Ketch asset in the UK Southern North Sea gas basin to Faroe Petroleum for a total consideration of $75.6m in addition to royalty payments on future Schooner developments. The share price rose 1.44% to 878p in opening trade. NR