Tullow Oil On Track For Up To 84,000 Barrels Of Oil Equivalent In Fiscal Year

LONDON--Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) Wednesday said it remains on track to deliver average net production of 80,000 to 84,000 barrels of oil equivalent for the full year, boosted by increasing production from its Jubilee oil field in Ghana.

MAIN FACTS:

-Year to date financials are in line with expectations.

-Forecast capital expenditure for 2012 remains in the region of $2.0 billion.

-As of Oct. 31, net debt is approximately $0.9 billion and unutilized debt capacity is $2.2 billion.

-On Oct. 31, Tullow finalized arrangements for the refinancing of its $3.5 billion Reserves Based Lending credit facilities, extending final maturity from 2015 to 2019.

-Jubilee field production capacity has been enhanced and is expected to exceed 90,000 barrels of oil per day, or bopd, (gross) by year-end, while the Plan of Development for the TEN project has now been submitted to the Government of Ghana.

-The acid stimulation of certain Phase 1 production wells in the Jubilee field has proven to be successful and gross production has increased from 63,000 bopd at the middle of 2012 to a recent production rate of around 85,000 bopd, in line with expectations.

-By the end of the year, an additional Phase 1A producer is expected to be brought on line and a further acid stimulation on a Phase 1 well is expected to be completed.

-This work is expected to take gross Jubilee production above 90,000 bopd by the end of the year and capacity production for the FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading vessel) is expected to be reached in the first half of 2013 as further Phase 1A production and injection wells come on line.

-In Kenya, the second exploration well in the Lockichar Basin has successfully encountered oil, further de-risking the basin.

-Additional exploration drilling and testing results across significant Kenyan and Ethiopian acreage position are expected before the end of the year.

-The Zaedyus-2 well is currently drilling offshore French Guiana following up on last year's basin opening discovery.

-Production performance elsewhere in West & North Africa is in line with expectations.

-Tullow has also entered into an exclusive negotiation with Hyperdynamics Corporation in respect of a potential farm-in by Tullow into a concession offshore Guinea.

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-Write to Iain Packham at [e-mail]

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