Tullow Oil keeps offshore Africa expectations static

April 25 (UPI) -- Robust production from an evolving basin off the coast of Ghana in West Africa wasn't enough to change the outlook for the year, Tullow Oil said.

African-focused Tullow reported its interest in oil production during the first quarter averaged 87,700 barrels of oil per day, led by gains from its Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme complex offshore Ghana. Output from Ghana has exceeded expectations so far.

The company is still in the process of remediating problems with a floating production facility parked over the Jubilee field off the coast of Ghana, considered one of the larger finds in recent years. Tullow said operations were closed for 19 days in the first quarter in order to carry out the first stages of repairs to parts of the floating infrastructure, which has been a chronic challenge for the company's work at Jubilee. Another week of closure is expected at the end of the year.

Net production from Jubilee averaged 22,600 bpd for Tullow in the first quarter. Net production form TEN was 32,400 bpd.

"Full year guidance remains between 82,000 and 90,000 bpd," the company's statement read. "Tullow's 2018 full year production forecast is unchanged."

Elsewhere, Tullow is reviewing its options in Kenya, while waiting for consent from the government in Uganda to sell off some of its assets to French and Chinese companies.

At the end of 2017, the company had $1 billion in free cash with no near-term debt maturities. Net debt declined to $3.4 billion and the company said it planned to spend around $460 million this year, unchanged from previous estimates.

"Tullow continues to make strong progress in 2018 and we continue to generate free cash flow from our high-return production assets in West Africa," CEO Paul McDade said in a statement.

Tullow, which has its headquarters in London, posted a loss of around $519 million for the first half of 2017. Half-year results are expected in July.