Africa focused oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil has written off $2.3bn in relation to exploration work and some of its assets in 2014 and reduced its 2015 investment programme for a second time, the company said on Thursday, 15th January, 2015.
The London-listed company, which is working to contain costs amid a dramatic fall in oil prices, also said it was continuing to review its core business, days after a source told Reuters the firm was expecting to make job cuts.
Tullow Oil is planning to cut jobs and has launched a staffing review.
Oil companies across the globe are grappling with a drastic drop in oil prices that has hit earnings, putting firms under pressure to cut costs elsewhere.
“Tullow will be a smaller company,” the source said.
London-listed Tullow Oil employs more than 2,000 people across 22 countries, with its African operations accounting for half the total workforce.
[contextly_sidebar id=”JtVLVxSSvOgRYa8Vqm1hpg4lAasNy6mm”]Tullow Oil has cut its capital expenditure plans for this year to $300 million, down from $1 billion invested in the first half of 2014 alone.
It has already placed some of its smaller African offshore drilling projects under review in an attempt to rein in exploration costs.
The oil firm is also listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) with a sizeable workforce in Ghana.
Tullow Oil, Britain’s fourth largest oil and gas firm and a FTSE 100 company, said it expected to make a gross profit of $0.6bn in 2014, with revenue of $2.2bn, slightly below analyst estimates compiled by Reuters.
Source: Reuters/Fin24/citifmonline.com/Ghana