12th Feb 2014 08:04
LONDON (Alliance News) - Tullow Oil PLC Tuesday said its pretax profit fell significantly in its recent full year, due to lower disposal gains and higher exploration write-off charges.
The major oil and gas company said pretax profit fell 72%, to USD313 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2013 from USD1.12 billion the previous year.
The company said its figures were impacted by both a USD670 million decrease in profit on disposals, following major disposal gains the previous year, and a USD200 million increase in exploration write-offs to USD871 million after spending USD1.1 billion on exploration and appraisal activities during the period.
The write-offs included USD101 million in French Guiana, USD28 million in Norway, USD28 million in Gabon, USD45 in Ethiopia, USD77 million in Mozambique, and USD75 million in new venture costs.
On average, the company achieved slightly lower oil prices in 2013 of USD105.7 per barrel after hedging compared, down from USD108.0 per barrel the previous year.
Tullow said its full year dividend would remain at 12.0 pence per share after proposing a final dividend of 8.0 pence per share to be paid in May.
The company reiterated its announcement in January that gross profit increased to USD1.40 billion for the twelve months, up from USD1.35 billion the previous year, and its sales volumes increased to 74,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 68,000 barrels per day the previous year, leading to higher total sales for the year of USD2.65 billion from USD2.34 billion the previous year.
The company also reiterated that it achieved an increase in its full-year average net working interest production to 84,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 79,200 barrels per day the previous year after the company added 200 million barrels of oil equivalent in contingent resources from its exploration programme during the year.
Tullow maintained a lower 2014 average net working interest production guidance in the range of 79,000 to 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day after the sale of assets in Bangladesh.
The company said Wednesday that it plans an ambitious exploration and development programme in 2014 and is aiming for resource additions of over 200 million barrels of oil equivalent over the year.
The news comes after press speculation that Tullow Oil is being eyed as an acquisition target by Statoil ASA, the major Norwegian oil and gas giant which may be looking at mergers or acquisitions after the conservative Norwegian government announced a possible reduction of its 67% holding in the company.
At the open, Tullow Oil is up 0.9% at 852.50 pence per share.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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