Tullow Oil 2015 Loss Narrows on Lower Exploration Costs Written Off

By Selina Williams

LONDON--Tullow Oil PLC said on Wednesday that its loss narrowed last year as cost cutting and reduced exploration write-offs at the U.K.'s largest independent oil explorer partially compensated for the fall in oil prices.

Tullow said its pretax loss from continuing operations shrank to $1.29 billion in 2015 from $2.05 billion the previous year despite a 27% drop in revenue as it wrote off $749 million in exploration costs, down sharply from $1.66 billion in 2014. Net debt rose to $4.0 billion at year-end from $3.1 billion a year earlier.

"Today's results demonstrate that Tullow adjusted well to low oil prices in 2015," Tullow Chief Executive Aidan Heavey said in a statement.

"Our challenge in 2016 is to be equally robust in responding to the uncertainties that remain in the sector," Mr. Heavey said.

Oil prices have fallen 70 percent since mid-2014 due to a glut in global crude supplies. The price slump has hit the exploration and production sector hard. Unlike the major oil companies BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, explorers don't have other parts of their business to fall back on when oil prices are low, such as refining and marketing.

Tullow said its oil output last year averaged 73,400 barrels of oil equivalent a day in line with guidance.

The company's TEN oil project in Ghana is 85% compete and on track to start up in between July and August, the company said.

-Write to Selina Williams at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2016 02:55 ET (07:55 GMT)

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