Tullow turnover jumps ninefold to €125m

OIL: Last year's £201 million sterling acquisition of BP's assets in the southern North Sea has been fully reflected in 2001 results from Tullow Oil, with turnover up almost nine times to £76.6 million sterling (€125 million) while pre-tax profits jumped from just £297,000 to £22.3 million.

While the acquisition has transformed Tullow into a highly-regarded independent oil company, shareholders will have to wait until next year at the earliest to receive a dividend.

Tullow chairman Mr Pat Plunkett said that, because of capital expenditure commitments in the North Sea and the Ivory Coast, no dividends were paid in respect of last year.

"This policy will be reviewed in respect of 2002," he added.

Tullow shares weakened after the publication of the results but are still trading at close to a three-year high and have outperformed the British oil and gas sector by 14 per cent over the past year. Tullow currently has a stock market value of more than €560 million.

This is largely due to the transformation at the company after the North Sea acquisition and the beginning of production from the Espoir field in the Ivory Coast. It also, however, reflects the increasing consolidation in the independent oil sector, which reached a peak this week with Shell's recommended offer for Enterprise Oil - formerly one of Tullow's shareholders.

"Bid speculation is something we never comment on. We haven't had any approaches and we're happy we can deliver shareholder value from our organic business over the next few years," finance director Mr Tom Hickey said.

Tullow has oil and gas interests in Africa, Asia as well as Britain, but analysts believe its fortunes in the next year or two are inextricably linked to the North Sea operations it bought from BP and Amoco, and the Espoir field in the Ivory Coast. In the current year, Tullow will be aiming to bring more of the southern North Sea assets, which have a potential 500 billion cubic feet of gas, onstream.

In the Ivory Coast, production from the Espoir oilfield began in February and is forecast to reach 30,000 barrels per day by the end of the third quarter.

"It's the first time that we've had a chance to recognise turnover from these assets and we're happy with the way they performed last year," Mr Hickey said.