15th Jan 2014 08:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Tullow Oil PLC Wednesday announced higher profit and sales in 2013 but lowered its production guidance for 2014.
The oil and gas company said gross profit increased to USD1.40 billion for the twelve months ended December 31, 2013 from USD1.35 billion the previous year.
Tullow said 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 USD2.60 billion from USD2.34 billion the previous year.
The company said 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.
However, Tullow announced a lower 2014 average net working interest production guidance of 82,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day after the sale of assets in Bangladesh.
The company also said it expects to make a net write-off of roughly USD405 million regarding 2013 exploration assets and USD325 million regarding previous exploration assets.
In a separate announcement, the company announced that it has made oil discoveries at the Amosing-1 and Ewoi-1 wells in northern Kenya, increasing the gross mean resource for the area to over 600 million barrels of oil. Tullow has a 50% operating interest in both wells.
Tullow said it believes that the overall potential for the Kenyan area, which will be fully studied through 20 wells in the next two years, is in excess of one billion barrels of oil.
The company said it plans to increase its capital expenditure to USD2.20 billion for 2014 compared with a total of USD1.80 billion in 2013.
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.
Tullow Oil shares were down 0.1% to 856.00 in early trading Wednesday, having initially risen on the news.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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