Tullow Oil has provided forward-looking production and financial updates and announces a number of changes to the Board that took effect immediately
Board Changes
Paul McDade, CEO, and Angus McCoss, exploration director, have resigned from the Board of Tullow by mutual agreement. Dorothy Thompson has been appointed executive chair on a temporary basis and Mark MacFarlane, executive vice-president, East Africa and Non-Operated, was appointed as a chief operating officer in a non-Board role. Les Wood continues as an executive director and chief financial officer. The Board has initiated a process to find a new group chief executive.
Group Guidance
Production and Reserves
As disclosed in Tullow’s Trading Update on 13 November 2019, the Group expects 2019 full year net production to average c.87,000 bopd. The Group also expects to deliver free cash flow of US$350mn, a liquidity headroom in excess of US$1bbn and no near-term debt maturities. While financial performance has been solid, production performance has been significantly below expectations from the Group’s main producing assets, the TEN and Jubilee fields in Ghana.
A review of the production performance issues in 2019 and its implications for the longer-term outlook of the fields has been undertaken and has shown that the Group needs to reset its forward-looking guidance. 2020 Group production is forecast to average between 70,000 and 80,000 bopd. Group production for the following three years is expected to average around 70,000 bopd. A breakdown of 2019 and 2020 Group production guidance is provided at the end of this release.
A number of factors have been identified that have caused this reduction in production guidance. On the Jubilee field, these factors include significantly reduced offtake of gas by the Ghana National Gas Company which Tullow makes available at no cost, increased water cut on some wells, and lower facility uptime. At Enyenra (one of the TEN fields) mechanical issues on two new wells have limited the well stock available and there is faster than anticipated decline on this field. The non-operated portfolio is performing well, and production is expected to be sustained for the medium term.
Independent reserves audit carried out during the year indicate that oil reserves are likely to remain broadly flat at year-end 2019 compared to the previous year-end (excluding the impact of 2019 production). The audits show increased oil reserves for Jubilee, Ntomme (one of the TEN fields) and the non-operated fields which are largely offset by a 30 per cent decrease in Enyenra reserves.
Taking action to underpin cash flow generation
In light of these new production forecasts, there will be a thorough reassessment of the Group’s cost base and future investment plans in order to allocate appropriate capital to the Group’s core production assets, development projects and continued exploration.
The Board believes that a series of actions will help deliver sustainable free cash flow. These actions include reducing capital expenditure, operating costs and corporate overheads. In 2020, the Board expects the Group to generate underlying free cash flow of at least US$150mn at US$60 per bbl after a Group capital investment of US$350 million. Considering this level of expected free cash flow, the Board has decided to suspend the dividend.
