Tullow posts 250% rise in earnings

London: UK-based oil explorer Tullow Oil reported an almost 250 per cent rise in first-half net profit, beating analysts' forecasts, thanks to high oil prices and the sale of a North Sea field.

Tullow said in a statement that net profit was £126 million pounds ($232.5 million) in the first six months of the year, up from £37 million pounds in the same period of 2007.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Hickey said the rise was mainly due to better prices for Tullow's oil and gas, while costs had generally been steady.

Chief Operating Officer Paul McDade said Tullow had received no recent takeover approaches, despite the company occasionally being the subject of bid rumours.

Shares dip

This news caused a temporary dip in the shares, which soon recovered and were trading up 1.45 per cent at 805 pence at 0811 GMT, outperforming a 0.41 per cent rise in the DJ Stoxx European oil and gas sector index.

Tullow, whose main producing assets are in Africa and the North Sea, gave a buoyant outlook for its Uganda exploration operations.

Exploration boss Paul McDade said that examination of drilling results gave the company greater confidence that its Ugandan fields may contain enough oil to justify construction of a pipeline through Kenya to the Indian Ocean.

"Comments on the Kingfisher discovery are positive," Citigroup said in a research note.