Tullow to offer $650m in notes to redeem existing paper

TULLOW Oil intends to offer $650m (€527m) in senior notes, with the proceeds earmarked to redeem existing notes that fall due in 2020.

It confirmed the planned issue of aggregate notes yesterday.

Tullow said the net proceeds will be used together with cash on hand to redeem in full the existing notes that mature in 2020.

The oil producer and ex- plorer, whose CEO is Paul McDade, has undergone a financial makeover in recent years as it emerged from the fallout of a slump in oil prices in 2014.

Last November, it completed a refinancing of $2.5bn (€2bn) of so-called reserves- based lending credit facilities. Those facilities included a commercial bank facility of $2.4bn.

Last year, revenue at Tullow Oil jumped 34pc to $1.72bn (€1.4bn), while it slashed its loss after tax to $189m (€153.1m) from $597m a year earlier.

Its net debt fell to $3.5bn (€2.83bn) from $4.8bn.

The company, which has been buoyed by higher oil prices, a lower cost base and higher-than-anticipated production, is primarily focused on west Africa, with the TEN (Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme) and Jubilee fields off Ghana.

It also has exploration acreage off Ivory Coast.

It hopes to produce the first oil from fields in Kenya between 2021 and 2022.