Tullow expansion to create 30 jobs

EXPLORATION GROUP Tullow Oil plans to create 30 jobs in its Irish office in an expansion of its information systems and geophysics operations.

The group announced yesterday it was planning to create a further 10 jobs in its geophysical technology group, which is based in its offices in Leopardstown in Dublin.

The group plans to hire a further seven people for its subsurface technology group, which also supports its exploration activities, and six people for its information systems unit.

Other jobs will be created across its business, which will bring the total new posts created to 30, Tullow says. The group already employs about 100 people in Leopardstown.

Tullow’s geophysical technology group is based in its Leopardstown offices. The operation helps plan the group’s exploration campaigns in regions such as Africa and South America and analyses data collected during these activities.

Its statement pointed out that the geotechnology group’s research and analysis was central to recent breakthrough oil discoveries in Kenya in east Africa and French Guiana in South America.

It recently hired 12 PhD graduates and intends taking on people with similar qualifications this year.

Tullow’s chief executive Aidan Heavey told Irish shareholders yesterday that the group was making good progress in tackling the problems that have slowed production from the jubilee field off Ghana, in which Tullow has a 35 per cent stake. Production there slowed from 88,000 barrels a day to about 70,000 as a result of problems encountered at the business end of a number of wells there.

Mr Heavey said there was a number of possible solutions that Tullow was considering, noting that the difficulty was not unusual in the industry and was relatively easy to solve. Following the meeting, he said the group was likely to decide on the best way forward by September and that jubilee should reach full production, about 120,000 barrels a day, in the first half of next year.

Tullow has begun a process that could lead to the sale of its interests in Bangladesh and Pakistan, but Mr Heavey said it was in “no rush” to conclude any deal.